34-year-old man arrested for teenager’s sexual assault in Kolkata hospital: Police

KOLKATA: A 34-year-old man, who allegedly introduced himself as a paediatrician to a teenage girl’s family at the SSKM hospital in Kolkata, and sexually assaulted her in a toilet, has been arrested, police said on Friday.

The suspect has been identified as Amit Mullick, who was a Group D contractual employee at another state-run hospital about 5km away. He was arrested from his residence in east Kolkata under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and produced before an Alipore Court on Friday. Mullick has been remanded in police custody till October 31.

The incident occurred on October 22, when the 15-year-old girl, a resident of South 24 Parganas, came to the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata to consult a doctor with her mother and grandfather.

Mullick, who works as a contractual group-D staff member at NRS Medical College and Hospital, had come to SSKM Hospital wearing a light-blue uniform, usually worn by medics.

Police said he allegedly introduced himself as a paediatrician to the victim’s grandfather and took the girl to the hospital’s trauma care centre. “According to the complaint, he took her to the toilet and sexually assaulted her. He fled when the girl’s mobile started ringing,” said a police officer.

Police said they had retrieved some CCTV footage, which was being scanned.

The incident triggered a political slugfest with the BJP attacking the ruling Trinamool Congress.

“The situation is the same everywhere across West Bengal. The state has become a haven for goons. The state has no control and goons now think that it is their government. The TMC has broken the spine of the police in a planned manner. It doesn’t seem that there would be any change in the situation till the TMC is in power,” BJP’s Samik Bhattacharya told reporters.

The TMC hit back in a post on X, pointing to the Maharashtra case where a woman doctor at a government-run hospital was driven to suicide after being raped by two police personnel.

“We dare you, one single @BJP4India leader, to summon a shred of spine and publicly grill @Dev_Fadnavis on this abomination. We challenge your sycophantic Godi Media to drop the selective amnesia and flood the airwaves with wall-to-wall coverage of this gut-wrenching horror,” the TMC wrote on X.