Scores of people went on the rampage outside Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in Central Delhi on Saturday opposing the post-mortem examination on a woman’s body. Doctors said an Imam of a local mosque had incited the mob to indulge in violence.
The woman--Noor Jahan, a native of Uttar Pradesh--was shifted to LNJP hospital after her condition deteriorated during a surgery for appendicitis at a hospital there. The doctors referred her to Delhi for a better treatment. However her condition did not improve here and she died on Saturday afternoon. After her death, the family wanted to take her body with them but the doctors kept insisting on a post-mortem examination to ascertain if there was any medical negligence.
This triggered a clash between the woman’s relatives and the hospital staff.
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As senior police officers remained tight lipped about the incident, sources in the department revealed that the situation worsened at midnight after an Imam of a local mosque allegedly instigated people to gather at the hospital to oppose the doctors’ move to conduct a post-mortem .
“The Imam was present at the hospital. He called several people to gather at the hospital to pressurise the doctors. At his instance hundreds of people arrived demanding the body of the woman,” said a source.
The protesters pelted stones at the hospital, breaking its glass panes. They also damaged the hospital furniture and two police booths, which had been set up in the hospital premises to assist the patients.
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As the crowd started protesting against the doctors, the local police was called and the protesters were evacuated from the hospital. The body was then handed over to the relatives without any autopsy.
Several police officers, who were called to intervene, were also allegedly heckled by the angry mob.
The police said they were verifying the sequence of events to identify the accused.