23-Year-Old Man Tries To Molest Surgeon At Coimbatore Medical College Hospital In Tamil Nadu, Doctors Stage Protest

Just days after a trainee doctor was raped and brutally killed in Kolkata, a 23-year-old man allegedly attempted to molest a female house surgeon at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

The incident took place around 8.30 PM on Wednesday when the accused identified as Mayank Galar of Madhya Pradesh’s Hoshangabad attempted to molest the surgeon when she was in the two-wheeler parking slot.

According to The Hindu report, the accused undressed himself in a bid to molest the doctor but she pushed him down and ran to her hostel while the accused fled the spot.

However, the accused was caught and handed over to the police when he visited the casualty around 1 AM.

After learning about the incident, house surgeons gathered on campus. They only returned to their hostels once the Resident Medical Officer assured them that legal action would be taken against the accused.

According to the police, Galar was roaming at the railway station and reached then hospital campus. He was arrested under Section 74 of BNS (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and Section 4 (penalty for harassment of women) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act.

On Thursday, following the Independence Day flag hoisting, house surgeons and postgraduate medical students staged a protest in front of the administrative block to condemn the alleged molestation attempt.

During the protest, they presented several demands, including the posting of security guards on campus at night, improved lighting, the installation of surveillance cameras, and regular police patrols during the night.

“Most of the surveillance cameras are defunct, and many places on the campus are not well-lit at night. Of the 150 house surgeons, 80 are women, and they do not have separate restrooms barring the ones in their hostel and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,” a house surgeon said, reported The Hindu.

CMCH Dean A. Nirmala held talks with the house surgeons and assured them of fulfilling their demands. “The Public Works Department has informed that restrooms for women house surgeons would be readied soon. There are nearly 200 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, and the defunct ones would be fixed. More lights would be fixed on the campus,” she said, adding that the campus had enough security guards at night.