(Left) Policemen posted on the hospital campus and Arijit, Sarkar’s son, breaks down. Pictures by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, July 4: A 59-year-old man died at Siliguri District Hospital this evening, allegedly after a nurse on duty “humiliated” him.

Sources at the hospital said Arun Sarkar, a resident of Aurobindapally of the town and an official of the Siliguri court, suffered a cardiac arrest after he had an altercation with the nurse at the gate of the female paying ward around 7.30pm. Soon after Sarkar’s death, the nurse fled the campus while Sarkar’s sons and relatives swarmed the building, demanding her punishment. Policemen from Pradhanagar and Siliguri have been posted at the hospital.

Sarkar had come to visit Bina Dutta of Malbazar. The 70-year-old is the grandmother-in-law of Sarkar’s son Abhijit and had been admitted to the hospital yesterday with gastro-enteritis.

“This evening, when I went to see her, the on-duty paramedical staff at the ward asked me to bring three bottles of saline water,” Abhijit said. “But I was not allowed to enter ward with the bottles. It was around 7.15pm and the nurse said the visiting hours (4pm-6pm) had ended.”

Sarkar, too, arrived and requested the nurse to allow his son to take the saline bottles to the patient.

“My father tried to persuade her but she raised her finger and told us to leave. When he told her to behave, she insulted him. He could not bear the humiliation,” Abhijit said. “Suddenly, I saw my father bending low. I tried to hold him back and people came forward to help.”

Sarkar was taken to the hospital’s emergency, where doctors pronounced him dead from cardiac arrest, Abhijit said.

The death triggered a tension with Arijit, Sarkar’s second son and employee of a private bank, reaching the hospital with friends and relatives. They barged into the ward and asked another on-duty nurse Swapna Dutta to show the duty register so that they could identify the “culprit”.

“She is the culprit and solely responsible for father’s death,” Arijit said. “The hospital authorities are shielding her.”

Subal Dutta, the acting superintendent of the hospital, said the incident was “unfortunate” and he knew Sarkar personally. “He had undergone a bypass surgery. We would investigate the incident on the basis of the complaint lodged by the aggrieved people. If anyone is found guilty, appropriate measures would be taken against the guilty,” Dutta said.

Around 9pm, Sarkar’s sons and relatives were still in dilemma about lodging a complaint. “If we file a police complaint, the body would be sent for post mortem. Or else, it would be discharged after the stipulated time of four hours,” a relative said.

Pinaki Ranjan Jha, the additional sessions judge of Siliguri, and Paritosh Roy, the additional district magistrate of Siliguri, met the hospital superintendent at 9.45pm. It was decided that Dutta would inform the director of health services about the incident and the developments by 12 noon tomorrow.