Chandigarh: Police have named four doctors of a private hospital in a case related to the alleged disappearance of the body of an elderly woman, Jasbir Kaur, a resident of Karaha Wala village in the constituency.
Jasbir Kaur, wife of former village sarpanch Jaswant Singh, was admitted to Orison Hospital in Ludhiana in a critical condition. After undergoing treatment for nine days, she died on December 19. As her sons were living abroad in Canada, the family kept her body at the hospital’s mortuary.
However, on December 22, when the family returned from abroad and went to the hospital to collect the body for the last rites, it was found missing. The hospital administration allegedly tried to hand over the body of another deceased woman to the family instead. The hospital failed to explain how Jasbir Kaur’s body went missing.
Following the incident, the family, along with social organisations, staged protests inside the hospital premises, which continued throughout the day. Initially, the police registered a case against some lower-level hospital staff, but the family expressed dissatisfaction and launched a prolonged protest with the support of social groups.
After a 13-day agitation, the police finally named four doctors in the case — chief doctor Nirmaljit Singh Malhi, Dr Sunil Mittal, Dr Rajiv Grover and Dr Manish Mittal.
The Punjab Human Rights Commission has also taken up a separate probe into the matter. Family head Jaswant Singh alleged that the hospital administration used the body for human trafficking. He said the family would continue their struggle until justice is delivered.
