50-Year-Old Woman Who Went For Dialysis Allegedly Raped By Hospital Ward Boy

A 50-year-old woman, who went to a government hospital last week for dialysis, was allegedly raped by a hospital worker. A complaint has been filed against the 32-year-old ward boy who is currently in hiding.

The incident happened on July 28 in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, but the traumatized victim did not approach the police until Monday, reported NDTV.

According to the victim, she visited Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital in the city of Indore on the day of the incident to undergo dialysis. There, she was instructed by the medical staff to change her clothes in an isolated room.

The suspect went in with the victim on the pretext of administering her enema. However, instead of carrying out the procedure, the suspect allegedly forced himself on her.

Though the woman protested, the suspect, identified as Ramesh, threatened her into silence. He intimidated her with the social stigma about rape. The suspect also got her admitted to a private ward of the hospital for two days then paid her $14 to silence her, the victim said in her complaint.

The woman decided to raise the issue before the hospital administration. However, hospital authorities allegedly asked her to "settle the issue" and keep mum. They also forcibly discharged her from the hospital after two days, promising an investigation into the matter. But did nothing about it.

It was then that the victim decided to get in touch with the police and media. Even after filing the complaint, the hospital authorities tried to brush it off, she alleged.

"On her complaint, a case has been registered under various sections of rape, and the search for the accused is on," a senior police official told ANI.

In a similar incident that was reported in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in May, an 18-year-old girl approached the police alleging that a ward worker had raped her inside the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital. According to the victim, she was admitted to Care Nursing Home with a high fever when the suspect sedated and sexually assaulted her. The woman told her sister-in-law about the ordeal when the latter visited her. The girl's cousin then checked the CCTV footage, which revealed the camera had been turned off for 40 minutes.