Delhi woman doctor's painful death after brutal rape was no different from Kolkata horror

The organisation identified 16 MPs and 135 MLAs facing cases related to crimes against women.

Dr Kavita (name changed) who had relocated to Delhi from Punjab and lived with her sister in capital's Janakpuri was a paediatrician in the maternity ward of west Delhi's ESI Hospital. On a September 2007 night, when she was being raped and brutalised in the crowded hospital, nobody heard her desperate screams for help.

She was found lying unconscious by her sister 24 hours after the incident with bite marks on her face, neck and all over body, and an injection mark on her arm.

According to a report in The Times of India, someone had drugged the 26-year-old senior resident doctor, sexually assaulted her and then attempted to end her life.

Separated by 17 years, the doctor's case was no different from the recent rape-murder case of a resident doctor of Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court said there was an attempt to pass off the rape and murder as a suicide. In Delhi's case too, the hospital administration and police initially suspected a suicide attempt.

According to the TOI report, on September 20, 2007, Kavita had stayed back at the hospital for night duty. She was to return to her sister’s house in Janakpuri the following day. She was last seen in the doctor’s mess around 8.30pm. Around 10pm, she called her sister and then went to her room in the hostel block a little later to change into her night attire and get some rest. Kavita never reached her sister’s house the next day.

When her sister rushed to the hospital in panic she found her lying on her stomach on her bed. She was not wearing undergarments and her private parts showed injuries. There were bruises and bite marks all over her body.

Kavita had slipped into a coma after the attack and remained in a vegetative state for seven months. On her last day, she was only 15 kg, the report said.

After massive outrage over the assault, the government intervened and promised to take care of all her medical expenses. A full-fledged investigation was also started.

The medical examination conducted on her body revealed abrasion marks all over, her neck had deep cuts. She was sedated and strangulated.

Since the case had no witnesses and no motives, police detained and questioned some suspects - her colleagues and close relatives - but it was never solved and died with her death. Police had also arrested the chief medical officer (CMO) of the hospital accused of tampering with the medico-legal case report.

According to TOI, Kavita's parents had died in an accident when she was barely 10 years old.