New Delhi: Rape; Docs discuss grey areas

[ 7 Sep, 2006 0002hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

NEW DELHI: Is an underage girl, who has had consensual sex but is now under parental pressure because of the act, a victim of rape?

What is the role of a doctor when he/she discovers in course of routine physical examination of a patient that there has been sexual assault though the family is not willing to press charges?

These were some of the questions raised by doctors attending a workshop on "Role of Medicos in Handling Cases of Rape", organised by the NGO Pratidhi on Wednesday.

While the workshop aimed at equipping gynaecologists and general duty medical officers with counselling skills necessary as they are the first step of organised help for a victim, the legal and social grey areas came up time and again during the discussions.

According to Raaj Mangal Prasad, vice-president (programme), Pratidhi, however, lack of sensitivity, rather than legal loopholes is the core problem in handling rape victims.

"Our survey done in 2003 revealed that the average waiting period in a government hospital for a rape victim is one and half hours. There have been cases when the ward boy has been asked to help the doctor examine the patient," Prasad said.

Dr Kishore Rajurkar, gynaecologist with Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, said, "Rape statistics furnished by Delhi Police are extremely misleading because bulk of the cases they bring for examination are cases where an underage girl had eloped, had consensual sex and then parents lodged a complaint.

Legally, it is rape but the counselling protocol does not quite apply here the way it happens in sexual assault. The cases that leave us groping for ways to handle are when routine investigations reveal sexual assault but the family is unwilling to press charges."

Agreed many others like Dr Seema Prakash of Geeta Colony Hospital.

"Some 15% pregnancies are in underage girls, we have had sterilisation requests from 19 and 20-year-olds and there is no protocol to handle the problem. There is a lack of legal and social clarity."

Dr Kavita Arora, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, Sparsh, stressed on the need for an area in the casualty of every hospital for victims' examination.