Mumbai: Ward boy jailed for outraging modesty of doctor – Times of India

MUMBAI: Observing that it was his moral responsibility to ensure the safety of a female doctor working on night shift, a magistrate’s court convicted and sentenced a now 46-year-old suspended ward boy to two years’ rigorous imprisonment for outraging her modesty in the elevator of hospital in 2014.
“If a woman was present on duty at night, the accused, as a hospital employee, had a moral responsibility to ensure her safety. But the accused did not fulfill that moral responsibility and instead abused the female doctor in the same hospital. So this is the time to curb such attitudes. In this case, there is no need to show sympathy to the accused. Crimes against women can only be avoided if a person with the same mental attitude as the accused is severely punished,” the court said.
The court observed that 15,000-20,000 people visit the hospital daily, many of whom are women and children who interact with staff. “The act done with the female doctor is highly reprehensible. Therefore, it should be the responsibility of the accused to look after every woman who comes to the hospital while on duty as his warden, whether she is a doctor, a staff member or a patient relative,” the court said.
The prosecution said that early on December 11, 2014, the doctor was working in the nephrology department and had to go to third floor of the hospital.
She got into the elevator which then stopped on the first floor and two strangers in the elevator and the staff nurse got out. She was left alone with the accused. When the elevator was on its way up, the accused sexually abused her.
The accused overpowered her and stopped the lift in-between floors. After the accused would not let the woman exit, despite her screaming and crying, she stood quietly in fear. After some time, when the elevator came to the third floor, the door opened and he got out of the elevator and started fleeing. The woman ran after him, shouting to catch him. The accused was caught on the second floor by those present and a female nurse. The woman was then told that the accused was a ward boy.