A junior doctor of a government hospital in Howrah was assaulted on Monday evening over an alleged delay in attending to a pregnant woman, laying bare the tenuous security at government hospitals more than a year after the RG Kar rape-and-murder case.

The 28-year-old doctor alleged that a man, claiming to be a home guard of the Howrah rural district police, assaulted her on duty inside the antenatal ward of Uluberia Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Medical College and Hospital and threatened her with dire consequences if she stepped out of the campus.

The doctor said security personnel at the hospital didn’t intervene after being browbeaten by her attacker and his relatives.

“There were women security personnel outside the ward, but the group threatened them and barged into the ward,” the doctor said.

Two people have been arrested, including a traffic home guard.

The junior doctor, who spoke to The Telegraph on Tuesday, said one of her attackers twisted her arms and another punched her on the neck.

“We have faced agitated family members of patients earlier as well, but they did not issue rape threats. We understand a family will be tense when one of them is in the hospital. But rarely does anyone issue a rape threat.... I do not know why they behaved in this manner because the patient was healthy and absolutely fine,” the doctor said.

The patient was already in her “early labour” by 5.30pm on Monday, she said.

“I tried to do a vaginal examination to understand when the delivery was expected, but the patient refused to let me examine, citing pain. I called her mother and told her that the patient was not allowing me to examine her. Later, around 15 people entered the ward and started shouting at me for not conducting the exam,” said the doctor.

“The group wanted me to check the patient immediately. I said I had been injured after she kicked me reflexively to prevent me from examining her. I urged them to wait half an hour as my senior was expected to be in the ward by then. They accused me of not examining her, though I tried to tell them that the patient declined examination,” the doctor added.

“Some of them threatened to assault me once I stepped out of the hospital. A woman from the group said I should be thrashed. Soon, one of the men twisted my arms, and another hit me on my neck,” she added.

Several doctors’ organisations said the assault exposed how security arrangements at government hospitals had not improved after the RG Kar incident.

On August 9, 2024, a 31-year-old trainee doctor on night shift at RG Kar was found dead in a seminar hall in the building housing the emergency department. Her parents lodged a complaint of rape and murder at Tala police station, leading to the arrest of Sanjay Rai, a civic volunteer of Kolkata Police.

Aniket Mahato, one of the prominent faces of the RG Kar protest, said the Uluberia incident showed how the state government was yet to develop adequate infrastructure to ensure a safe environment for doctors.

“Usually, the perpetrators of crime are found to be close to the ruling dispensation. In this case, arrests have been made, but there is no certainty that they won’t be out on bail within a few days,” Mahato said.

“We have seen what happened to those who were booked for unleashing vandalism at RG Kar. The intent of the state government remains questionable here,” he added.

The Uluberia doctor said one of the assailants identified himself as “a political party leader as well as a police officer”.

“After two men assaulted me, the women in the group helped them to flee the ward,” she recounted.

Senior officers of the Howrah rural district police said the doctor had told them that she realised that the pregnant woman was doing fine after conducting her PAR (palpation, auscultation and percussion) abdominal examination on Monday evening and moved on to attend to another patient when the group attacked her.

Senior gynaecologists said the PAR abdominal exam was a standard inspection to assess abnormalities in the abdomen.

“The doctor told us that after the patient kicked her, the relatives told her to continue with her examination because that was her duty,” a senior officer of Uluberia police station said. “The junior doctor also said that a member of the group told her ‘aapni jyanto ki kore bari dhoken aami dekhe nebo’ (will see how you return home alive). An FIR was drawn up based on her complaint,” said a police officer.

Charges of assault, criminal intimidation and preventing a government servant from performing her duty have been slapped against the two arrested — a traffic home guard with the Uluberia Traffic Guard and his brother.

“We have sought CCTV footage from the hospital. Till now, the hospital authorities have not been able to provide that,” the officer said.

In a statement, the Service Doctors’ Forum, an association of doctors working in government hospitals, demanded exemplary punishment for the perpetrators.

The absence of adequate infrastructure and manpower has led to lawlessness in the health sector, the forumsaid. “If the perpetrators of the Uluberia incident are not punished, it will embolden perpetrators,” the statement added.