An 11-year-old girl, the daughter of a patient admitted at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), was allegedly assaulted by a ward assistant inside the hospital premises late on Tuesday night.
The DMCH authority formed a four-member committee to investigate the incident amid tension among the hospital’s patients and their relatives.
“The committee, headed by the hospital’s Deputy Director Mushfiqur Rahman, has been asked to submit the probe report within the next three working days,” Brigadier General Mostafizur Rahman, director of the DMCH, said to the Dhaka Tribune.
According to sources in the hospital, the victim’s mother, 45, from Dinajpur district, had been undergoing treatment at the DMCH for several psychical complications for nearly a month. The victim was staying with her in the hospital.
On Tuesday night around 11:30pm the girl went outside her mother’s ward to wash the dinner utensils. She was then grabbed by Mohammad Kamal, 22, who forcefully took her inside a washroom and attempted to rape her.
The victim managed to escape and went to her mother to tell her about the attack. The patient then informed the hospital authority about the incident and asked them to take action.
While talking to the Dhaka Tribune, the teary-eyed mother said: “What are we going to do now? We are not safe even inside the hospital, where we have come for treatment.”
She said she wanted nothing but the assurance that the culprit would be punished to ensure the safety of all the patients and their relatives.
According to hospital sources, Kamal, the son of DMCH ward assistants Chan Banu and Rahmat Ali, had been working at the hospital as a temporary, daily-paid staff for the past six months.
When asked about it, Mushfiqur Rahman, deputy director of DMCH, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are investigating the incident. Primarily, we came to know that Kamal is not a permanent staff here.
“These daily-paid temporary staff are troublemakers, so they will be let go,” he said.
Mozammel Haque, inspector stationed at DMCH police outpost, said police were looking for Kamal, who went into hiding soon after the incident.
Police had already interrogated Kamal’s mother Chan Banu in this regard, he added.