‘Can’t expect victims of sexual offences to hush up matter’

The woman was reportedly molested periodically during her treatment by the doctor, who was the resident doctor at a prominent private hospital in the city on March 24. The woman was reportedly awaiting a physical examination as a formality before being discharged after undergoing treatment for five days.

Following her complaint three days after the incident, the accused was arrested and has been in judicial custody.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Girish Kathpalia dismissed the bail application of the accused the second time saying that “it cannot be ignored that the complainant a foreign national was dealt with in such a manner that, as submitted by prosecution also, impacts adversely the dignity of our country across the world…”.

The counsel for the accused said the victim had been “flaunting” the incident all over social media though “under general circumstances, a victim of sexual offences would try to hush up the matter. The counsel further argued that the victim had concealed the fact that she had come to India to study sexual offences in India and other countries, which could be a reason for her having made a false complaint.

“…The argument that the complainant concealed that she was in India to study about sexual offences and it is possible that she would have lodged a false complaint, is extremely difficult to accept. Even as per the accused, the complainant was studying about the sexual offences in India and other countries and going by the argument of the accused, the complainant would lodge similar complaints in all the different countries… this also is not believable argument that a lady studying the sexual offences would come all the way to India, get herself admitted in a hospital with admittedly a complicated illness and then lodge a false complaint,” the court said.

“While considering the gravity of offence, it also cannot be ignored that the accused/applicant being a doctor enjoyed a relation of trust with the victim and was expected to uphold the dignity of his profession. …it also needs to be kept in mind that sexual offences are not merely offences against body of a female; such offences exhibit sexual discrimination and a misconceived effort to express masculine instincts over a female and have to be dealt with sternly,” the court said.