The Dausa Police on Thursday arrested BJP leader and former MLA Jitender Gothwal for organising a protest against Dr Archana Sharma and allegedly forcing her to commit suicide earlier this week. Dr Sharma was charged with the murder of the patient who died due to known complications during childbirth. Gothwal has been taken by the Dausa police to Lalsot.
As per reports, Gothwal has been arrested under charges of extortion and abetment of suicide. Dausa police have informed that they have so far arrested 32 people in the doctor suicide case.
Dr Archana Sharma has written in her suicide note: “Don’t Harass Innocent Doctors, Please”.
— Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) April 1, 2022
She was booked for murder after a patient died due to PPH
Rajasthan’s Dausa SP removed, SHO suspended and BJP leader Jitendra Gothwal arrested for instigating protests against the doctor pic.twitter.com/tHqO1YCM0S
On March 28, a 22-year-old pregnant woman was brought to Anand hospital run by Dr Archana Sharma and her husband. Though she was provided treatment and a child was delivered, her condition deteriorated and she died due to heavy blood loss. Reportedly, a crowd of around 200 people gathered at the hospital and charged Dr Sharma with medical negligence. An FIR was lodged against her under murder charges, in violation of a standing Supreme Court order.
Unable to handle the distress, Dr Sharma hanged herself in a hospital room and left a suicide note in which she mentioned that the patient had died due to postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) post-delivery, a known medical complication.
Later, Dr Suneet Upadhyay, husband of Dr Sharma accused the local politicians and journalists of spreading misinformation in the case. He said that the local leaders and the journalists had pressurized the police to lodge an FIR against the doctors. He said that BJP’s Shiv Shankar Balya Joshi went to the family of the deceased and promised monetary aid from the CM’s fund.
Dr Archana Sharma’s bereaved husband Dr Suneet Upadhyay. Hear him, PM @narendramodi HM @mansukhmandviya And please let us doctors know what action you will take against Kirodi Lal Meena and his subordinate goons from your party who are responsible for her death. pic.twitter.com/02P9pTWvM4
— Amit Thadhani (@amitsurg) March 30, 2022
According to Upadhyay, Joshi and other BJP leaders also forced the police to register the case under section 302 of the IPC. Joshi in one of his Facebook posts had also mentioned that he and his colleagues had staged protests at the Anand Hospital and helped the family of the deceased to get Rs 3 lakh and a house from the government funds.
Also, Gothwal, who was arrested yesterday had tweeted that he was involved in the protests on March 29. “Patient Asha Bairwa died on the spot due to the negligence of the medical department. Reached Lalsot to get justice for her family and sat on a dharna with the people of the village for two hours. Received and provided financial assistance of Rs 10 lakhs”, the tweet read.
It is important to note that the family members of the deceased Asha Birwa said on Wednesday that they had not filed any complaint against the doctors. They said that the doctors had taken all efforts to save Asha Birwa but could not because of the heavy blood loss after the delivery. Husband Laluram Bairwa said that he is not educated and that he was made to sign the complaint that was written by someone else.
The government has meanwhile also suspended the officer in charge of the Lalsot police station, Ankit Chaudhary, and ordered the removal of the Dausa Superintendent of Police (SP) over the department’s handling of Dr Sharma’s case.
