Delhi hospital lodges police complaint against vandalism by crowd

A Delhi government hospital, that was allegedly ransacked by an irate crowd on Tuesday evening, Wednesday lodged a police complaint seeking "institutional FIR" against the people who vandalised its properties, officials said.

The incident took place at Maharshi Valmiki Hospital in Bawana area after a six-year-old girl, who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man in outer Delhi, was brought to the hospital. The doctors had referred her to another facility, saying emergency services were not available, following which an irate crowd ransacked the facility.

A senior police officer said that they received a complaint from the hospital authorities on Wednesday and they are investigating the case.

"We have already lodged a complaint with police seeking institutional FIR against the people who vandalised the hospital properties," said Rajiv Sagar, the medial superintendent of the hospital.

The medical superintendent on Tuesday night had said that the crowd had gathered at the hospital minutes after the the girl was brought there. The crowd went berserk after her attendants were told that the girl should be taken to another facility for a detailed medical examination.

"We do not have emergency OT services and the victim needed a GA (general anaesthesia) for her medical examination. Since, our hospital did not have the facility, we referred to Dr BSA Hospital about 8-10 km from our hospital," he said.

The altercation among broke out around 6 pm, Sagar said Tuesday, adding that no medical staff or security personnel were injured.

The medical superintendent also claimed that the crowd may have ran amok as a man was first brought to the hospital on Tuesday with multiple injuries, who apparently was the accused in the assault of the minor girl.

"The irate crowd wanted to target the man, but the hospital staff saved him from them by letting him go out from the back door," he claimed.

The accused has been arrested, police said, adding that they are trying to establish the sequence of events.

It was not immediately known if the man arrested was the one who was brought to the hospital.