The Kozhikode branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has condemned the police charge against a junior doctor in a city hospital, who was attacked by a gang of youth accusing him of misbehaving with a woman patient recently.
B. Venugopalan, president, and K. Sandhya Kurup, secretary, IMA Kozhikode, told the media on Monday that the doctor had not misbehaved with the patient as being propagated. He was just examining her using a stethoscope and checking her condition. That too had happened in the presence of female nursing staff. The incident occurred on September 29 and he was attacked by a gang of youth the next day. A couple of hospital staff too were targeted. Three of the attackers, who are students of a private institution, were arrested subsequently based on complaints by the doctor and the IMA.
Dr. Venugopalan said that the police, however, had booked the doctor also under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code that deals with outraging the modesty of a woman. This, along with the attack, was demoralising for junior doctors, he pointed out.
