Mumbai: Ward boy molests patient in ICU, kin claim cover-up

A woman suffering from depression and admitted to the ICU of a Ghatkoparbased hospital was allegedly molested by a ward boy While the Pant Nagar police arrested the accused and he was released on bail the 35yearold womanrsquos family has claimed that the hospital and police are covering up the matterAccused Rakesh RathodThe woman who was living in Qatar came to the city in December 2020 to get treated for depression On February 8 the woman overdosed on drugs and was rushed to Hiranandani Hospital Powai As there were no ICU beds available at Hiranandani she was shifted to Pancholi Hospital Ghatkopar on February 9ldquoThey hospital staff were laughing while discussing me telling each other that I will look like the devil if my face is washed Meanwhile a nurse called the ward boy to change my clothes I was desperately trying to open my eyes or cry out but couldnrsquotrdquo the woman said in her statement to the policeLater the woman heard curtains being pushed aside and felt someone trying to unbutton her dress She managed to open her eyes and saw the ward boy touching her inappropriately Stunned by her open eyes the man ran away Unable to shout the woman started banging the pulse oximeter attached to her finger on the bedNurses and a doctor rushed to her and she narrated the incident ldquoInitially the staff tried to cover up the matter But when we insisted they allowed us to register a complaint the womanrsquos brother said A case was registered against accused Rakesh Rathod 34 and he was remanded to two daysrsquo police custodylsquoNeed to see CCTV footagersquoThe womanrsquos family claimed that the hospital and police are not doing enough in the case ldquoThe hospital has not shown us CCTV footage yet We found scratches around our sisterrsquos private parts and thighs but neither the hospital nor the police is taking the matter seriouslyrdquo said the womanrsquos brother ldquoIt took the staff 10 attempts to put the IV in both her hands Can we call them competentrdquo he saidDr Bhagat Singh Patil from the hospitalrsquos administration said ldquoWe removed the employee as soon as the arrested happened We have a very strict policy regarding employee behaviourrdquoPant Nagar policersquos Senior Inspector Suhas Kamble said ldquoThe family wants us to investigate the case further We have asked Hiranandani Hospital to give us a detailed medical report of the woman to strengthen the case If we get more evidence we will add more sections in the FIRrdquo