‘Misbehaving’ doctor thrashed by woman’s kin in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: In a first-of-its-kind incident at a recently-launched basti dawakhana, a flagship programme of the State government, relatives of a woman roughed up a doctor for allegedly misbehaving with her during a medical consultation. The incident took place in Uppal on Saturday afternoon.

The 28-year-old doctor was arrested after the woman patient lodged a complaint, alleging he touched her inappropriately and even cut her hair in the dawakhana. According to the police, the woman is a 36-year-old resident of Chiluka Nagar.

On Thursday, she visited the dawakhana, complaining of headache and backache, and under the pretext of treating her, Balraju allegedly took her into a chamber, touched her inappropriately, and cut her hair. Shocked by this, the woman rushed out of the hospital.

On Saturday, she, along with her relatives and neighbours, came back and questioned Balraju, leading to a heated argument and the doctor getting beaten up.

The police took the doctor, along with the woman and her relatives and neighbours, to the police station for an inquiry. At the police station, the woman complained against the doctor and a case of outraging the modesty of a woman was registered. The doctor was then arrested. 

Inquiries revealed that the doctor, who had completed MBBS, was posted to the dawakhana four months ago, and his posting orders were not issued as the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in place due to the elections.

Those who accompanied the woman to the hospital told the police they had only come to question the doctor, but some unidentified persons who were not part of their group assaulted him and created a nuisance. Though no case has been registered in this regard, the police are conducting an inquiry. The dawakhana authorities have not lodged a complaint, police said.

District Medical and Health Officer of Medchal district Dr Narayan Rao said an internal inquiry would be conducted. In previous cases of such incidents, junior doctors across govt hospitals, have protested, demanding better security and installation of CCTV cameras. “Such cases have just started in basti dawakhanas, and we hope CCTVs would make our lives easier,” said Dr Rao.