Jalandhar, May 4
Following an intra-uterine death (IUD) of a mature foetus at a charitable hospital here on Thursday night, patient Tanu’s husband Harish Mehta of New Colony, Gopal Nagar locality, alleged that their unborn baby died due to the negligence of the doctor.

Talking to The Tribune, he said Tanu was under the medical care of Charitable Sewak Ram Hospital for the past nine months of her pregnancy. Blaming gynaecologist Dr Vandana’s negligence for the IUD, he alleged that she did not look after his wife properly.

Harish Mehta said Tanu was admitted in the hospital after repeated requests by his mother Sharda on Thursday afternoon. He said Dr Vandana told them at 5 p.m. to get Tanu scanned. After scanning, Tanu was taken inside an operation room and after some time Dr Vandana told them that their unborn baby had already died in the womb, he added.

Subsequently, he submitted a complaint in this regard to SHO Rajendra Sharma of the police station concerned.

Meanwhile, the district administration wrote to Civil Surgeon Dr J.P. Singh to constitute a board of doctors to look into the cause of the IUD, SSP Arpit Shukla told The Tribune.

When contacted, Dr Singh said a committee of three doctors - gynaecologists Dr Damanjeet Kaur, Dr Sarita and radiologist Dr Ashok Bhagat - had been set up to know whether the IUD took place due to the negligence or it was a natural death. The committee would submit its report within a day or two, he added.

While Dr Vandana could not be contacted, Dr Punit Pasricha, a son of the secretary of the Sewak Ram Management Committee Dr K.K. Pasricha, termed the IUD as unfortunate and said that the heart beat of the foetus suddenly became abnormal.

Subsequently, her scanning was done and preparations were made for caesarean operation but the unborn baby died in the womb itself.

Sobbing Harish Mehta said no doctor examined his wife and other patients admitted in the hospital on Friday.

When asked, Dr Pasricha said the staff members might be feeling insecure as some doctors had allegedly been attacked by a mob after the IUD.

Jalandhar, May 4
The situation took an interesting turn when a Qualis vehicle reportedly hit Harish Mehta’s sisters Alka, Sonia and some media persons, including photo-journalist Vaneet and electronic media journalist Naresh Bhardwaj, said CNBC TV-18 journalist Naresh Arora who was present in the hospital at that time. The media persons had gone there to cover the incident.

Corroborating his statement, Harish Mehta said his sisters received injuries as they were hit by the Qualis vehicle in which three doctors, including Vandana and Johal, were sitting. At this, the agitated mob damaged the vehicle.

Mehta said that his sisters were requesting Dr Vandana to treat his wife Tanu but Dr Johal asked the driver to take them out of the hospital. Meanwhile, several doctors, including members of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) came there and sat in front of the main gate of the hospital and made journalists “hostage” on the premises of the hospital for about 45 minutes, Naresh alleged, adding the journalists could come out of the hospital only at the intervention of SP (city-I) S.K. Kalia.

On the other hand, IMA Punjab president Dr G.S. Gill alleged that some mediamen had instigated Tanu’s relatives to damage the vehicle and beat up the doctors boarding the Qualis.

He alleged some mediamen also beat up doctors.

Later the journalists and IMA members sat on dharna at Kapurthala Chowk and PAP Chowk on Thursday night, demanding registration of criminal cases against each other.

Even on Friday, deputations of media persons and doctors met the SSP and reiterated their demands.

Mediamen also sat on dharna in front of Punjab local bodies minister Manoranjan Kalia’s house on Friday evening in support of their demand.

Meanwhile, SSP Arpit Shukla said the police had decided to lodge cases against both the parties on the basis of the complaints received from media persons and the IMA, he added.

Later SP (city-I) Kalia said that an FIR was being lodged against IMA Jalandhar chief Dr P.S. Bakhshi, Dr Punit Pasricha, Dr Vandana, Dr Mukesh Joshi, Dr Navjot Dahiya, Dr Rakesh Vij, Dr Balraj Gupta and Dr Johal on the complaint of mediamen.

Chandigarh, May 4
Kala Singhya, a sleepy village in the vicinity of Kapurthala, is again in the eye of storm. Already in news for the rape of 40-year-old Satya Devi, the village today woke up to the distressing news of an 18-year-old girl’s gangrape; the second in less than three months

Satya was assaulted on February 23, while Pooja, the latest victim, was rescued yesterday after having endured three days of sexual brutalisation by five men of the village. All the accused, including Sandeep, Manga, Pinda and Sukha, have been arrested and remanded in judicial custody.

An orphan with no extended family to support her, Pooja had been living on alms for the past many months. Mostly, she lived at Nakodar. It was only about six days ago that she came to Kala Singhya to get her injured foot treated. Today she told Kavita Singh of the Punjab Human Rights Organisation: “Someone advised me to come here to get a foot massage. So I came here. One day the village sarpanch warned me to return. He said it was not safe here. He even gave me Rs 50 to buy a bus ticket.”

But on May 1 when Pooja was resting at Kala Singhya bus stand, she was accosted by Sandeep, who proposed marriage to her. In her statement to SI Surinder Singh of Sadar police station, Kapurthala, Pooja said: “He said he would marry me and asked me to accompany him and his friend Manga to a gurdwara.

But instead of taking Pooja to Gurdwara Tammi Sahib, they took her to a nearby dera where she was kept for three days and allegedly raped by five men. Sandeep and Manga, the FIR states, were joined by dera owner Pinda and his two accomplices.

“After sexually torturing me, they gave me Rs 50 and asked me to return to Nakodar. They accompanied me to the bus stand where the police had put up a barricade. I refused to go.

It was then that the police intervened,” the girl stated. SI Surinder Singh told The Tribune today that the accused were arrested, while the girl was taken to Kapurthala civil hospital for a medical test. Tomorrow an ossification test would be conducted.