“I never told parents about death, I told them to come to hospital: Assistant superintendent
The Statesman | 17 August 2024
I never informed the parents about their daughter’s death. Instead, I told them to come to the hospital immediately because she was critically ill and rushing her to the emergency ward, claimed the assistant superintendent (AS) of R G Kar Medical Hospital on Friday.
Soon after the horrific incident of rape and murder of the 31-year-old woman postgraduate trainee (PGT) doctor of the R G Kar Medical College Hospital on 9 August, the bereaved parents told the media that it was an AS of the hospital, who informed them about the suicide of their daughter, suppressing the real incident.
“I called up the parents around 10.50 am on Friday and requested them saying, ‘come to the hospital as soon as possible because your daughter is critically ill and we are taking her to the emergency’,” the AS, who doesn’t want to be named, told The Statesman.
“My colleague informed me on Friday morning that one dead body was recovered in the chest medicine department. On Thursday night, he called me up and said he won’t come for morning shift duty on Friday because her daughter was sick. He requested me to do the morning shift that starts from 8 am and I reached the hospital a little after 9 am,” she said.
“There was no administrative officer like principal or medical superintendent cum vice-principal (MSVP) of our hospital till 11 am on Friday. Usually, everybody comes by 10 am. I was the only junior officer to look after administrative affairs till the principal, MSVP and senior others came after 11 am. Our principal Prof Sandip Ghosh called me around 10.05 am over mobile and asked me to cooperate with police so that the body could be sent to the morgue for post-mortem exam. Till then, I had no idea of any other details like rape and murder theory of the victim. To me, it was news of a dead body recovered in the chest medicine department,” according to her.
“So, after getting instruction from the principal sir, I along with security men and group D employees rushed to the seminar hall in the chest medicine department on the third floor. I found the head of the department (HoD) of chest medicine, other doctors, officer-in-charge (OC) of Tala police station, other policemen of our police outpost, scavenging supervisor and domes of the morgue waiting there. I was waiting on the third floor and didn’t enter the hall. The HoD (Prof Arunava Dutta Chowdhury) gave me the mobile number of the victim’s family to inform them of the news ,” she said.
“I contacted the victim’s father and requested them to come to the hospital as soon as possible. I met her parents on the third floor where they came to identify their daughter and apologized for not being able to give them news of her death because I was too shocked to do so. I think I was the first one to contact them and at the same time I don’t also know whether others like her friends or colleagues called her parents before me,” she said.
“I have said everything that I shared with you to the KP investigation team and human rights commission. I am very depressed and upset when people blamed me saying that I have suppressed the actual facts of the incident to her parents floating the theory of ‘suicide’ to them,” she added.