A doctor at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur, has said she was moving the courts against an attempt by some sections of the media to defame her and hurt her dignity after she visited the family of the Hathras victim.
A Demonstrator in the Pharmacology Department, Rajkumari Bansal earlier this month visited the family of a 19-year-old Dalit girl, who died at a Delhi hospital while undergoing treatment after being allegedly raped last month.
Unsubstantiated claims
Later, sections of the media levelled unsubstantiated allegations against the doctor — that she had Maoist links; that she falsely claimed to be the victim’s sister-in-law; and that she was part of an international conspiracy to defame and destabilise the Yogi Adityanath government. Dr. Bansal has denied all these charges.
Claiming a “big conspiracy” was being scripted against her, that she reportedly went to Hathras provoke the family and incite riots, Dr. Bansal told The Hindu , “I am being framed. Those making such baseless allegations have to supply the proof backing them.”
Denying she ever pretended to be the victim’s sister-in-law, Dr. Bansal, who said she worked for the poor and for women’s empowerment in addition to her official duties, “In no video clip can you see the family claiming me to be a member or the other way round. I don’t know how this narrative was built, whose plan it was.”
Personal initiative
Stating that she had taken leave from the department to visit Hathras, she added, “I didn’t go there just because it was a rape case. She [the victim] was abruptly cremated and no one was allowed to meet her family. There is no one to fix responsibility. Being a common person, I thought of visiting a fellow citizen’s place on a humanitarian ground.”
Meanwhile, college Dean P.K. Kasar said they had not served a notice on Dr. Bansal as claimed by the media. “We haven’t received any communication from the government or elsewhere directing it. As for a departmental inquiry, how can we initiate it without a formal complaint?”
