Patna, June 29: The national commission for women (NCW), in a report to the Centre, has recommended stern action against doctors at Motihari Sadar hospital for conducting the "two finger test" on the 17-year-old girl who has alleged she was gang-raped and brutalised with a gun and sticks.
Commission member Sushma Sahu, who visited the hospital in East Champaran district on Saturday to meet the survivor, sent the recommendation today. She had submitted her findings to commission chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam, who sent the report to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) via email. From there, it went to the to the Union ministry of health and family welfare.
Sahu said she was shocked to learn that doctors in Bihar were still using the banned test to confirm rape incidents.
"The use of the two finger test has been banned in India according to Supreme Court directives, which asked state governments about three years ago to adopt other methods to confirm such incidents," Sahu told The Telegraph over phone from Delhi. "The doctors of Motihari Sadar hospital have committed a criminal offence."
Sahu has summoned East Champaran civil surgeon Dr Prashant and sadar hospital superintendent Dr Atul Kumar on July 1 to Delhi with the medical reports of the survivor.
"It was equally shocking to know that the victim had to undergo medical tests several times, an inhumane act. It seems that the doctors at the hospital are insensitive towards such cases," Sahu said.
The survivor has had to undergo four tests so far, first time on June 15 at the Ramgarhwa primary health centre, twice (June 22, when she had to undergo the finger test, and June 25) at the sadar hospital and on June 27 at SKMCH, Muzaffarpur.
Sahu said she has come to know that none of the medical tests conducted in the sadar hospital in the past year has confirmed rape. She wondered how many such cases had been hushed up.
"This is why I have asked the civil surgeon to come with medical reports from the past one decade so that they can be analysed at our level," Sahu said.
She warned that if the civil surgeon failed to turn up, she would ensure his arrest. "I am very serious about such things and will not spare anyone responsible," she said.
Dr Prashant confirmed that the NCW has summoned him, but denied the finger test was conducted on the survivor: "Nothing of this sort has been mentioned in any of the two medical tests conducted by doctors of the hospital here," he said.
The Telegraph, however, has a copy of the medical report of the test conducted on the girl on June 22. Dr Priti Gupta, who conducted the test on the girl on June 22, has gone on leave.
Sahu, who had slammed the police who have only filed an attempt to rape case, also said she had sought an appointment with Union home minister Rajnath Singh about action against East Champaran superintendent of police (SP) Jitender Rana.
"The role of the SP is very suspicious," she said. "I will bring this fact to the notice of the Union home minister; rape is a very sensitive issue and justice has to be delivered to the survivor's family."
Additional reporting by R.N. Sinha in Motihari
