A patient allegedly assaulted a woman doctor on duty, grabbed her by the hair and tore her shirt before attacking other hospital staff and vandalising property at the Kharar Civil Hospital on Saturday evening. The accused, identified as Ranjitpal Singh, a resident of Hira Singh Nagar in Kharar, has been arrested.

According to the complaint filed by the doctor, she was examining the accused in the emergency ward around 8 pm when he started arguing with her over some medicines. He then allegedly grabbed her by the hair and tore her shirt. When other hospital employees intervened, he allegedly attacked them as well and vandalised the hospital property. The staff eventually overpowered him and handed him over to the police.

Kharar city police registered a case against Singh under Sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 76 (assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to disrobe her), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from duty) and 221 (obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act were also invoked.

Senior medical officer (SMO) Dr Sarita said the hospital needs adequate security as patients from several surrounding areas come here for treatment. She added that the hospital had repeatedly approached the police and local administration regarding its security requirements.

The Punjab civil medical services association has condemned the alleged assault on the woman medical officer, and demanded immediate deployment of security guards at hospitals. It said the Kharar hospital in question had no security arrangements at the time of the incident. The body also demanded the implementation of Phase 2 of its security framework, which includes the deployment of 287 guards at sub-divisional hospitals across Punjab, by November 12.