Mentally challenged woman raped in Dhanbad hospital, probe ordered

SINDRI: A mentally challenged and speech-impaired woman, who was admitted to the medicine ward of Shaheed Nirmal Mahto Medical College and Hospital (SNMMCH) in Dhanbad was allegedly raped by an ambulance driver with the help of a tea joint owner on late Sunday night.
The incident has put a question mark over the safety of female patients at the government-run healthcare centre.
While the hospital staff caught hold of the tea shop owner, Kishun, and has been handed over to police, the ambulance driver identified as one Sanjay Das is said to be absconding.
Following the incident, the SNMMCH management has constituted a five-member committee consisting of heads of medicine, gynaecology, radiology, clinical pathology and emergency medicine departments to probe the incident and identify the persons responsible for allowing outsiders to enter the female ward in the dead of the night.
According to reports, the ambulance driver along with the tea shop owner entered the female medicine ward around 11 pm and lured the woman to a deserted place inside the hospital and raped her. When some hospital staff got a whiff of it, they rushed to her rescue but the alleged rapist managed to escape. The tea shop owner is, however, denying his involvement in the crime.
SNMMCH superintendent A K Choudhary said, "The woman was admitted to the hospital by some unknown persons on June 26 and since she is not able to speak and is mentally challenged, we are not able to ascertain her identity. I got information from the ward boy that around 11.15 pm about the incident after which I directed the officials concerned to inform the police and hand over the tea stall owner to the police/"
He further said the ward is normally locked by 9 pm and no outsider is allowed in the female ward. "We have constituted the internal committee just to ascertain how the duo managed to enter the female ward and why the staff nurses and ward boys could not stop them. We have informed the police to take up legal action after investigating into the matter and all those found guilty of dereliction of duty would be punished," he added.
When contacted, ASP (law and order) Manoj Swargiyari said the police are seeking the assistance of expert counsellors to talk to the woman before sending her for a medical examination. "We are also interrogating the tea joint owner, he added.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)