Mumbai: Specially-abled kid toe-types SOS to nail doctor who sexually abused her

The accused, Dr Harish Badiger in a picture he put up on Facebook

As if being paralysed wasn't suffering enough, a 12-year-old was sexually assaulted by the doctor treating her. After the nearly year-long trauma, she recently learnt about good touch and bad touch through television, and realised the doctor was abusing her. She then told her mother about it by typing on her phone with her toes. Her family approached the Santacruz police, who arrested the doctor on October 22 following the complaint. According to the police, the girl has the rare disease Japanese Encephalitis for the past seven years. She is bedridden and can barely move her limbs. The girl contracted it after she was bitten by a mosquito during a holiday in Assam.

The girl is paralysed due to Japanese Encephalitis but can use a mobile phone with her right leg. Representation pic

Accused, a child specialist

The accused has been identified as Harish Badiger, a child specialist physiotherapist with a clinic at Kamla Spaces, Santacruz West. The police said Badiger took advantage of the girl's condition and sexually assaulted her many times at his clinic during treatment. The police said the sexual abuse happened between January and October this year. A police officer said, "Badiger had been sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in his clinic for the past few months. She had gone for a holiday with her family to Assam in 2014 and contracted Japanese Encephalitis after a mosquito bite. Her body was paralysed and she was unable to speak. After several tests doctors found she was infected by Japanese Encephalitis which has no cure. Treatment is only supportive to relieve symptoms and stabilise the patient." The family learnt about Harish Badiger and started physiotherapy for her in 2014. Due to Covid-19 they faced a financial crisis and stopped the treatment. In early 2021 her family again started physiotherapy by Dr Badiger.

Dr Harish Badiger was treating the girl from 2014 but due to a financial crisis her family had stopped treatment and resumed it in 2021. Representation pic

Ordeal began this year

"In early 2021 Dr Badiger started sexually assaulting her and molested her many times during treatment. He would not allow her parents in the clinic and they had to wait outside," a police officer explained. "In mid-October, the girl saw an advertisement on television about good touch and bad touch. She started crying and tried to tell her mother about her ordeal. Unable to do so, she typed it with her toes on a mobile phone. Her family rushed to the Santacruz police station on October 18 this year and registered an FIR under Sections 376 (rape), 354 (assault and criminal force) of IPC and POSCO Act Sections 4, 8 & 12. The accused was arrested and has been remanded in judicial custody," a police officer said.

Oct 22
Day the doctor was arrested