Rape victims are almost as a rule taken to the Nagpada hospital for examination, whether the crime was committed at Mankhurd, Malad or Mulund. However, the city has three rape crisis centres — at Bhabha, Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar and Oshiwara Nursing Home, all overseen by Dr Seema Mallik. The three are BMC-run centres that have together intervened and helped almost 100 victims so far.
Activists claim that at the Nagpada hospital, victims are not given adequate medical attention, treatment or counselling. International guidelines demand that rape survivors be handled according to carefully laid-down protocols that involve seeking their informed consent for examination, offering medication to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV, and giving counselling for psychological trauma.
"As per Indian law, rape victims can go to any hospital or police station to report the crime. There is no need to take them to a particular hospital," said Padma Deosthali, coordinator of NGO Cehat (Centre for Enquiry for Health and Allied Themes).
Cehat, which helped set up the rape crisis centres, has written to police higher-ups to highlight problems faced by rape survivors during medical examinations. And the activists are not just talking about the geographical distances when it comes to problems with the Nagpada Police Hospital.
"We consider it a matter of gross medical negligence that survivors are passing through the police hospital and not receiving any form of medical or psychological care," said a study the NGO conducted in 2008 after its members spent days observing the proceedings at the police hospital.
Another case in point is the plight of an unnamed adolescent who was brought to Rajawadi Hospital in June 2011. "The 16-year-old was sexually assaulted five months earlier and sent to the Nagpada hospital for an examination. She received no treatment at the hospital. She later went to Rajawadi hospital with a pregnancy in the second trimester. The girl wasn't even given any medical papers or sheets that could allow other doctors to follow her case," said advocate Ujwala Kadrekar of Cehat. However, Nagpada Police Hospital's civil surgeon Dr S M Patil denied the charges. "The girl was sent to the nearby state government-run JJ Hospital for treatment," he said.
There are also issues with the police attitude vis-a-vis rape victims. Kadrekar offered the example of a victim from Mankhurd who had complained of being raped by her nephew. "The woman was kept at Mankhurd police station for 24 hours before being sent to the Nagpada Police Hospital for an examination. Incidentally, she had been examined at a civic hospital before that," she said.
Cehat's letter to the police commissioner spells out the problems - "ill-treatment" of the survivor of the sexual assault, a delay in referring her for medical examination, interrogation by police in an "extremely humiliating manner", delay in registering an FIR and "inferences" during medical examination.
"We have met joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy, who has promised some action," she said.
Regarding the police hospital, Roy told TOI that the only reason that rape victims are sent to the Nagpada hospital for examination is that it's the best place to collect forensic evidence in a scientific manner. "Treatment and counselling are no doubt an important part, but when a victim comes to us the first and foremost concern for us is to ensure scientific collection of data. The police hospital is the best in collecting forensic data in such a manner, so much so that we are prepared even for a DNA test much later," said Roy.
Patil said the Nagpada hospital provides treatment and counselling as and when needed. "If a patient needs medical treatment, we definitely give it to them. Medical papers are given to her as well," he said. In the case of the Spanish musician, who identified her assaulter a couple of days back, the police not only provided her with treatment but even wrote down the generic names of medicines she had been prescribed.
Rape intervention is among the most sensitive public health issues. In fact, a PIL was filed before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court two years back seeking formation of uniform guidelines to examine victims of sexual assault. A committee was set up for the purpose and a final judgment is awaited. Patil told TOI that the police hospital already follows most of the guidelines because he himself is a member of the high court-appointed committee.
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