Pathankot, October 1
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has put the local Civil Hospital on notice by asking it to submit an action-taken report (ATR) in the incident pertaining to a 38-year-old woman, who was forced to deliver a baby in the corridor of the health facility.
All eyes are now on the findings of the in-house inquiry. It remains in the realms of speculation whether the real culprits will be identified or some low-ranked staff members will be made scapegoats.
“The internal inquiry report is expected by Monday,” said Civil Surgeon Dr Rubinder Kaur. She was on leave when the incident occurred and joined duty today.
In the mid of all this commotion, nobody is talking about how and why an outsourced staff member allegedly manhandled the woman’s husband as was being claimed by the latter in the video clip.
Officials say the panel orders carry weight only if it is proved that the staff had deliberately ignored the woman knowing that she belonged to the SC community. “It is a coincidence that she turned out to be an SC. This fact was not known to anybody in the hospital when the incident happened,” said a staff member.
An officer said the panel’s orders need to be taken seriously. “Otherwise, summons can be issued,” he said.
