Rape or Frame Up?

on september 12, at around 9 pm, an fir (no. 390) was filed at taltola police station by a woman, accompanied by her husband, accusing dr basudeb mukherjee of raping her sometime between 7.15 and 7.45 pm on the pretext of medically examining her. she was immediately sent for a medical examination, the report of which mentioned that she did have intercourse in the recent past. however, as the patient was a married woman, this was not 'abnormal' and in no way proved the doctor's involvement. but according to law, a rape charge — filed by the victim — has to be immediately attended to and the accused taken into custody. the offence is a non -bailable one and accordingly dr mukherjee was arrested even as he was attending to other patients. the victim's clothing and vaginal swabs were sent for forensic examination as well as dna analysis for 'conclusive' evidence. the dna analysis will be done at hyderabad while the forensic tests will be conducted here. after filing the report, the woman and her husband returned to their home in shyamnagar, north 24-parganas. before leaving, however, they made their accusations public by speaking to local tv channels. according to the husband, his wife left the doctor's examination room in tears and told him about the incident. instead of directly going to the doctor and demanding an explanation, he decided to summon some local youths who in turn advised them to go to the police and informed the tv channel themselves. officer in charge of taltola police station, akram khan, said, we were forced to arrest the doctor since a reported offence of this nature in non-bailable. however, we have asked the forensic authorities to complete the tests in 15 days instead of the usual 90. we are hopeful that the results will be available on time. the dna test will take longer. police sources believe that if the forensic report clears him, dr mukherjee will be able to procure bail. after the day of the incident, however, the couple has decided to avoid the press. do you think we would make false allegations about such a serious matter, the husband snapped when asked about the incident. dr mukherjee practised from a chamber in the ground floor of his residence on s.n. banerjee road. his wife, a doctor herself, was in the house when the incident occurred. my husband was busy with his patients while i was upstairs. she was his third patient that evening. this was her third visit to the chamber. i heard some commotion on the street and looked out. some people had gathered in front of our house. the janbazar area is notorious for rowdism so i did not bother much till i saw a policeman noting down something from the nameplate on our door. my husband was still examining his patients when policemen arrived and took him away, said dr leena mukherjee. after the incident, her husband reportedly told her about an altercation he had with the patient's husband on the fateful day. the patient came to him to be treated of infertility. after examining her, my husband asked the husband to get himself examined as he too could be the reason behind the couple not conceiving children. on wednesday, my husband asked him for the reports from the other doctor. at this, the man accused doctors of trying to make money by referring patients to their colleagues. this led to an argument as the man could never accept the fact that he could be impotent, dr leena mukherjee claimed. according to medical law, any male doctor examining a female patient is bound to ensure the presence of a female attendant. patients as well as doctors, often by virtue of mutual trust, do not strictly observe this norm, said a leading city gynaecologist. if we talk about law, then there are a lot of things that a doctor is not supposed to do. he should not offer any advice over the telephone, or entertain illogical demands from patients on september 12, there was no female attendant in dr mukherjee's chamber. we do have a female attendant but she is very irregular. moreover, if you visit the chamber you will realise why a female attendant is not required. a curtain separates the examination couch from the place where the patient's relative (in this case, the husband) waits. how could my husband have committed the crime without his knowing anything about it, said dr leena mukherjee. according to dr manish pradhan of the indian medical association, kolkata chapter, when the husband of a female patient is present, then the presence of a female attendant can be relaxed, which was the case here, he said. if the patient was physically abused, she would definitely try to free herself which would result in a scuffle and she would have cried out. the victim's family and her neighbours however dismiss any suggestion that she cooked up charge against dr mukherjee. they asked the times of india reporters, why are you here? have you come from the doctors side? do you want the gory details? there are several factors that point to a frame up of the doctor. according to his patients and other doctors, the charge seems preposterous. sohini dasgupta, one of dr mukherjee's patients, was aghast when she heard about his arrest. he is such a gentleman. he took excellent care of me when i had my child. there has to be some circumstantial evidence before one can charge him. while dr mukherjee waits for the dna and the forensic reports, the incidents opens up the larger issue of the vulnerability of the medical profession to these kinds of charges.