Lucknow: Rape attempted on a woman at KGMU campus

Lucknow: Women attendants accompanying patients sleeping out in the open at the gates of King George’s Hospital seem to be facing the fear of rape by patients and other men sleeping alongside, in wait for doctor appointments. In a recent incident outside KGMU gates, a 25-year-old patient attendant was rudely woken up to dismay with a patient in an intoxicated state, trying to touch her all over, in the early hours of the morning on Wednesday.

The accused Pradeep Shukla was brought under control and handed over to the police, once the victim raised an alarm.

The accused Shukla hailing from Hardoi was at the hospital for treatment of a parasitic disease, Filariasis and was staying in the open on the KGMU campus, said police. A rape complaint has been lodged against the accused by the victim.

The victim’s family hail from gonad and were there for treatment of a lady and were lying in wait for a doctor’s appointment the next day.

According to the victim’s narration of the incident, the man who was in a drunken state had started touching her in her sleep. When she woke up to find a stranger lying close to her she shouted for help. However, the man tried to gag her in an attempt to stop her from being heard and even tried to run away from the place The relatives who came to her rescue say he even posed as a policeman to escape.

ASP (west) Vikas Chandra Tripathi revealed that the accused has been arrested and a charge of rape registered against him. The police has also recorded the statements of the attacked woman and her family members.

The ACP also said that the KGMU authorities had been alerted through a letter about ensuring the safety of women outside their gates waiting for doctor appointments, during the night.

This has been the 2^nd incident to have occurred within a period of 5 months.

A 42-year-old woman had earlier on June 1 been attacked in a similar manner and gang-raped by three on the hospital’s premises.She was accompanying her husband for his treatment. Two security guards, Santosh Kashyap, and Shiv Kumar and a liftman Vinay at the Shatabdi Hospital of KGMU, were arrested in the case.

KGMU s, Chief Proctor, Prof RAS Kushwaha however, has maintained a distance from the entire episode alleging that no woman patient accompanying the family was registered at the medical university hospital.

“A FIR has been lodged on the basis of the complaint of the woman,” he said.

Dr Sudhir, spokesperson, KGMU told HT, “Security arrangements on the campus will be reviewed.”