A video has surfaced on social media wherein a female doctor is seen abusing and shouting at a journalist and misbehaving with the police personnel and the family members of a Dalit minor rape victim. The doctor in the video has been identified as Dr Asma Begum, who reportedly works in Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Women’s Hospital, Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh.
The video, which was shared on Twitter on August 31 and since then gone viral, was allegedly shot on August 24.
फर्रुखाबाद में हिंदू बेटी के साथ मुसलमान युवक ने रेप किया. पीड़िता के पिता और पुलिसवाले उसका मेडिकल कराने के लिए जिला चिकित्सालय गए. दो दिनों तक दौड़ाने के बाद अस्पताल की डॉक्टर आसमा बेगम ने लड़की को मेडिकल न कराने की सलाह दी. जब मीडिया इसकी कवरेज करने लगी तो आसमा भड़क गईं. pic.twitter.com/5Z2Hp5y7nB
— Himanshu Mishra 🇮🇳 (@himanshulive07) August 31, 2022
In the viral video, Dr Asma Begum is first seen talking to someone on her mobile phone. She is heard telling the person to come and meet her as soon as possible since the CO (Circle officer) City has been calling her and bothering her by paying her daily visits. She then instructs the visitors to wait outside till the concerned authority arrives. Some cops and media are also seen surrounding her. She then gets up from her chair and walks inside, only to discover that the entire discussion was being recorded by a journalist.
The enraged female doctor returns and begins screaming at the journalist who was allegedly filming the entire fiasco. Sundaram Singh, the journalist in question, reportedly told the police in his complaint, that Dr Asma broke his mobile phone and abused him by saying, ‘हिन्दू काफिर @# के बच्चे’, roughly translated to ‘@# Hindu Kaafir’s children’.
The journalist filed a complaint against Dr Asma Begum on August 24 in this regard. The female doctor, in turn, filed a counter-complaint against the journalist.
In what transpired, on August 20, 2022, three youths namely Shadab, Wasim and Wasir raped a Dalit minor girl. On August 23, 2022, a case was registered against the accused at Maudarwaja police station. According to DSP City Pradeep Singh, the victim’s family delayed three days before filing a report because of the fear of reprisal.
After the complaint was filed, the victim was brought to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Women’s Hospital, in Farrukabad, for a medical examination. Reportedly, the doctor in charge, Dr Asma was not available on the first day. The next day, she sent the victim back. She reportedly discouraged the victim’s relatives from getting her medicals done. The female doctor allegedly tried to instil fear in the victim’s family’s mind by telling them that if rape was proven, her future would be jeopardised, thus they should not get the medical examination done on her. OpIndia, however, could not independently verify these claims.
On August 24, when the victim, accompanied by CO City Pradip Singh, Maudarwaja police station in-charge Amod Singh and her family members, was again taken to the hospital, Dr Asma Begum allegedly lost her cool and rebuked them. Seeing a journalist, who was also present there, recording the act she got further infuriated and went on to break his phone and abuse him by calling him ‘@# Hindu Kaafir’s child’.
Dalit minor raped by Shadab, Wasim and Wasir in Farrikabad, Uttar Pradesh
According to the victim’s father, his daughter was abducted when she was sleeping at night. The aggrieved father added that when urged the accused to release his daughter, he was also subjected to profanity. OpIndia has a copy of the FIR in this matter.
The father, in the complaint, further stated that Shadab had previously also abducted his daughter and his friends. At that time, however, she returned home after the intervention of Shadab’s father.
The police have taken action in this case under sections 363, 366, 342, 376-D, 504, 506, POCSO and SC/ST Act of IPC. The main accused Shadab has been arrested. According to DSP City Pradeep Singh, the police are investigating the matter. Some circumstances and facts, however, do not match with the evidence, he said.
— fatehgarh police (@fatehgarhpolice) September 1, 2022
Medical delay
DSP Pradeep Singh told OpIndia that the victim, along with the female constable, was sent to the government hospital for medical evaluation on the evening of August 23. Doctors were not available at the time. She was taken to the hospital again the next morning. However, the medical was not performed. Following this, the senior officer went to the hospital that evening. Meanwhile, other journalists also reached the hospital.
DSP Pradeep Singh remarked that the hospital administration’s decision to delay the medical was beyond comprehension. He added that the female doctor had gotten furious when he tried to explain the seriousness of the situation to her. The video going viral is from that time, said DCP Pradeep Singh, adding that the behaviour of the hospital administration was extremely reprehensible.
The victim’s medical examination was conducted on August 25
The Farrukabad Kotwali SHO told OpIndia that the victim’s medical was finally conducted on August 25. He also confirmed that the probe into the complaint filed by both the journalist and the female doctor Asma Begum is underway. Meanwhile, the accused Shadab was arrested on 26 August 2022, said the SHO.
Accusation meted at Dr Asma Begum
Journalist Sundaram Singh filed a complaint against Dr Asma Begum for what happened in the hospital on August 24. Singh accused her of prolonging the victim’s medical examination by generating fear in her that her future would be ruined. He said that she was urging the victim not to get the medicals done because the accused were also Muslims.
Allegations meted out at Dr Asma Begum by the victim’s father
The Dalit victim’s father also claimed that Dr Asma Begum was delaying medicals. He further said that in order to postpone the examination, the doctor kept calling them at odd hours of the day and night and sending them back. He further alleged that the female doctor assaulted the journalist in front of the cops.
Voices demanding investigation against Dr Asma Begum grows
After the video went viral, the demand for strict action against Dr Asma Begum has been growing. Several Farrukhabad organisations and public representatives have called for stern action against the female doctor. Criticising the doctor for her deplorable conduct, BJP MP Mukesh Rajput said that if a doctor can behave like this in front of the police what she could do otherwise is unfathomable.
Vijay Shankar Tiwari, the national spokesperson for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, also urged Uttar Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister to take stringent action against the government hospital employee Dr Asma Begum.
उत्तर प्रदेश के फर्रूखाबाद में एक जिहादी ने हिन्दू लड़की का बलात्कार किया,पिता अपनी बेटी का जब मेडिकल कराने पहुंचा तो वहां की डॉक्टर आसमा बेगम ने लड़की का मेडिकल करने से मना कर दिया,@brajeshpathakup जी इसे संज्ञान में लीजिये और डॉ0को दण्डित करिये I
— Vijay Shankar Tiwari (@VijayVst0502) August 31, 2022
Meanwhile, Karni Sena has also given a memorandum against Dr Asma Begum. In its memorandum, Karni Sena has demanded prompt and strict action against her.
Dr Asma Begum files a counter-complaint against the journalist
Interestingly, Dr Asma Begum also filed a complaint against journalist Sundaram Singh accusing him of soliciting bribes, tearing government records, beating himself up, and creating a nuisance in a drunken state. In this regard, when OpIndia spoke to the journalist he urged the administration to make the CCTV footage of the time when the incident took place in the hospital available in the public domain. He has also raised concerns that the footage might have been tampered with.
