The woman doctor who died by suicide in Maharashtra’s Satara district and accused a police officer of repeatedly raping her was allegedly pressured to falsify medical reports — not just by cops, but also by a Member of Parliament, according to sources.
A relative of the doctor had earlier claimed that she often faced pressure from police to change post-mortem reports in cases of unnatural death, and also to modify reports when arrested persons were brought to the hospital for a medical test.
It has now come to light that when Satara Police arrested an accused and took him to the hospital for a medical examination at night, if the deceased doctor was on duty, she would sometimes declare the accused “unfit” and admit him despite his actual fitness.
According to sources, this reportedly happened on three or four occasions, after which the matter was brought to the attention of the District Medical Council. The council sought an explanation from the doctor.
In her written reply, she mentioned receiving a call from an MP who allegedly tried to pressure her to falsify the medical report. However, she did not name the MP in her response.
“There was a lot of police and political pressure on her to make wrong post-mortem reports. She tried to complain about it. My sister should get justice,” the doctor’s cousin told news agency ANI.
She also reported the matter to a senior police officer in June, but no action was taken, her cousin alleged. The doctor’s complaints to higher-ups were also reportedly ignored.
Her aunt told news agency PTI, “Just two days ago, she mentioned being harassed by seniors at work.”
The 28-year-old doctor was from Beed district and posted at a government hospital in Phaltan. She was found hanging inside a hotel room in the town on Thursday night.
In a suicide note written on her palm, the doctor alleged that she had been raped and mentally harassed by the police sub-inspector and a techie over the last five months.
She wrote that sub-inspector Gopal Badane raped and sexually harassed her on multiple occasions, and another man, Prashant Bankar, a software engineer working in Pune, mentally harassed her.
The note read, “Badane raped me four times. He subjected me to rape, mental and physical abuse for more than five months.”
Sub-inspector Badane was suspended after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis personally stepped in and spoke to the Satara Superintendent of Police.
A case was registered against Badane and Bankar under charges of rape and abetment to suicide. Police arrested Bankar and will produce him in court on Saturday. The cop, Badane, is on the run and efforts are on to nab him.
“The doctor’s body has been sent for post-mortem. We are also investigating the allegations mentioned in the suicide note on the victim’s palm,” police said.
– Ends
