JUSTICE! The staff of Masina Hospital, Byculla, went on an indefinite strike, yesterday, asking the police to nab the culprits. (Right) Angry relatives of the victims attacked the hospital. PICS/SAYED SAMEER ABEDI

Nazneen Rafique (15, name changed) can barely feel the pain from her burn injuries. "The trauma I faced because of the molestation is much more and I will never forget it," said Nazneen. The girl was admitted to Masina Hospital for treatment of burn injuries on Tuesday.

"The nurse was taking off my hospital gown for dressing my burn wounds, when this ward boy Ramesh Chauhan moved in and yanked off my gown. I wasn't wearing underwear, but thankfully the blanket kept me covered. But Dr Balu Sahani insisted that I take off the blanket as he had to dress my wounds," said Nazneen about the incident on Tuesday.

She said the burn injuries were on her hands, calves and face, "so why did they have to expose me and bandage my thigh?" she asked tearfully.

Nazneen is expecting her SSC results today. Her elder sister Shaila (22), who was also being treated for burn injuries, said she too had been molested. "The same doctor touched me inappropriately," said Shaila. Both the alleged molestations happened around 3 pm.

The girls' mother then approached the hospital authorities to register a complaint, but they refused to hear her grievances. She then filed a complaint with the Byculla police.
 
Both Chauhan and Dr Sahani were arrested under sections 354 and 34 of the IPC (for assault or crime to women with intention to outrage her modesty and act done by several persons), said T U Godge, senior PI, Byculla police station.

However, managing trustee of Masina Hospital, Dr A F Golwalla, has an entirely different story. "We had discharged the patients on Tuesday, but the parents were unable to pay the hospital fees. Our staff is innocent. I have no choice but to shut our burn unit after the damage and patients too have left the hospital," Golwalla said.

Meanwhile, the Rafiques got themselves discharged from Masina, but as Nazneen and Shaila need constant supervised care, they approached JJ Hospital, which refused to admit them. They then went to Nair and then GT, where they were told there were 'no empty beds'. Finally, they have been admitted to Harkisondas Hospital, Grant Road. 

The possible reason behind the hospitals' refusal to admit the Rafiques was that their relatives and friends attacked the hospital staff and CEO Firdaus Commissariat and damaged the lobby of the burns unit on Wednesday. The staff has now gone on an indefinite strike asking the police to nab the culprits. "The police has to take stern action against the family and the relatives," said Mukesh Deolekar, a ward boy at Masina.

The scuffle forced many families to shift their patients to other hospitals and
some patients were not served food.