KGMU doctor suspended for alleged harassment, pressuring colleague to convert religion

Lucknow: Following an alleged suicide attempt by a female resident doctor who accused her colleague of harassment for refusing to convert her religion for marriage, the King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow, administration suspended the accused doctor and barred him from entering the campus, allowing access only for inquiry proceedings.

A First Information Report (FIR) has also been registered against the accused based on a complaint filed by the woman doctor’s father. He had earlier raised the issue on the Chief Minister’s public grievance portal and with the Uttar Pradesh State Women’s Commission.

On Monday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath called the female doctor in the evening and inquired about the incident. The doctor reportedly told the CM that the accused was forming a gang at KGMU and was carrying out religious conversions.

Also read- KGMU resident doctor attempts suicide over alleged pressure to convert religion

Yogi assured the female doctor that there would be an impartial investigation. "No culprit will be spared," the CM said, assuring strict action against the culprit. As a result, the Yogi government has requested a report from KGMU on the entire matter.

Medical Dialogues had reported that the doctor stated that she is a Hindu and alleged that her male colleague, who belongs to the Muslim community, emotionally exploited her and pressured her to convert to Islam to marry him. She claimed that after she refused, he continued to harass her, which pushed her into severe mental distress and led to her suicide attempt.

On December 27, she allegedly attempted suicide by consuming a large quantity of medicines inside her hostel room at KGMU. She was immediately rushed to the Trauma Centre and later shifted to the fifth floor of the Critical Care Management (CCM) ICU for advanced treatment.

"Convert to Islam if you want to marry me," was the demand made by the doctor to his female counterpart, says a complaint by the female colleague.

UNI Sources here on Tuesday said that a police officer has been deployed 24 hours a day to protect the female doctor. The Vishakha Committee, formed under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, submitted its report to the KGMU administration. Based on this report, the accused doctor was suspended.

The woman, a resident doctor, is pursuing her MD in Pathology from KGMU. The accused doctor is a senior doctor and is pursuing his third-year MD in Pathology at KGMU.

On Monday, the victim appeared before the Women's Commission in Lucknow with her father. She met with the Vice President of the Commission, Aparna Yadav. During the meeting, the victim said, "I was tortured a lot. I am scared."

The accused doctor appeared before the investigation committee on Monday. Initially, he was reluctant to appear. When asked to appear, he requested leave citing illness, but the committee refused. The accused doctor pleaded not guilty and said he was not married. He was asked to submit an affidavit.

According to a news report by Bhaskar, the female doctor stated that she was forced to attempt suicide after being unable to take the pressure and torture from the accused doctor.

She said, "He made physical relations with me by promising marriage. When I became pregnant, he gave me medicine to terminate the pregnancy. When I asked him about marriage in October, he talked about religious conversion. He said we could only get married after I convert. This led to a dispute between us when I opposed this idea. I started distancing myself from him, but he kept pursuing me. He said he has my objectionable photos and videos. He threatened to make them viral, which would prevent me from getting married anywhere. He kept saying accept and convert to religion. He continued to blackmail me."

Also read- KGMU resident doctor conversion case: Women's Commission seeks action