RAJKOT: Two employees of a private firm contracted by the Jamnagar’s state-run GG Hospital were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly sexually harassing female medical attendants over the past six months.
Police arrested Lomesh Chandegara alias LB Prajapati (27), a resident of Lalvadi and Akbar Ali Nayak (26), a resident of Navagam Ghed area of Jamnagar.
Prajapati, who was the human resource (HR) manager, was assigned powers like deciding the duty hours of the attendants, recording their attendance, deciding their leave and others.
He used to take a round to see if the attendants were carrying out the work assigned properly.
He had powers to report about anybody’s mistakes, said police.
Nayak was working as a supervisor with Prajapati.
The duo has been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 354 (use of criminal force to outrage a woman’s modesty, 354-A (demanding sexual favours), 354-B (use of criminal force to disrobe a woman) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), the official said.
Police said more arrests are likely in the coming days after the investigation.
The FIR lodged by a woman victim alleged that they used to touch the women inappropriately and resort to physical and unwelcome gestures that included disrobing, passing sexually coloured comments, obscene gestures etc.
Police is expected to produce the accused in the court on Thursday and request for remand to find out who supported them in misusing their administrative power.
According to sources, some of the nursing staff also had knowledge of their immoral activities but no action like withdrawal of powers was taken on time.
GG Hospital which created the biggest capacity in Saurashtra to treat 2,000 Covid-19 patients had hired nearly 550 medical attendants over the last 18 months through several agencies.
According to hospital sources, despite several advertisements in the local paper, they did not get sufficient staff, so they decided to hire attendants through outsourcing.
These attendants were assigned the duty to take care of the patient’s needs in the absence of the patients’ relatives because they were not allowed inside the hospital.
Last week, one of the attendees while raising the issue of non-payment of salary also flagged allegations of sexual harassment of women attendants.
Chief minister Vijay Rupani had ordered an inquiry by three-member committee to probe the allegations of sexual harassment.
The committee has submitted its report to the state health department.