A female doctor was assaulted over a dispute with a patient at the Government Medical College at Uluberia in Howrah. Two people were arrested and one of the perpetrators is allegedly a police house guard. Three others were arrested in a separate incident of sexually assaulting a woman in north Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district.
According to police officials, two persons were arrested on Monday (October 20, 2025) for the attack on a young resident doctor at Uluberia Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay State Medical College and Hospital.
“The doctor has lodged an official complaint. We have filed a first information report. Two persons named in the FIR have already been arrested immediately after the attack,” Jadhav Shubham Pandurang, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (Uluberia) told The Hindu on Tuesday (October 21, 2025). He also confirmed that an investigation is underway.
One of the accused is allegedly a police house guard who threatened the female doctor with consequences if she left the hospital premises. She also claimed to have received rape threats during the assault. The arrested home guard was identified as Sheikh Babulal. According to the doctor, she was pushed and physically assaulted during the heated interaction when the people accompanying the patient started escalating the matter.
“I was on duty. I was examining a sick patient. A bunch of patients started beating me and one of them claimed to be a high-ranking police official and a worker of the ruling party, but when the police arrived at the scene, he said he was a house guard,” said the doctor.
“No Safety for Women”
The opposition Bharatiya Janta Party has criticized the ruling Trinamool Congress for the lack of safety for women in the state and repeated attacks on women doctors.
“If he’s calling himself a police officer and he’s harassing women, then that’s a matter of serious concern. Then who’s going to protect people?” asked Sukanta Majumdar, MP and former BJP state president. He said that West Bengal under Trinamool Congress is not safe for women.
BJP workers protested against the Uluberia incident.
The West Bengal Doctors Forum condemned the attack, saying it was not an isolated crime but a “symptom of the injustice that has gripped the healthcare system”.
This comes after several other cases of rape and assault on women doctors have been reported in the state over the past year, including the rape and murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata in August 2024 that took the nation by storm. Another woman was raped in a hospital in Panskura.
Gang rape in North Bengal
In another incident, a housewife in north Bengal’s Maynaguri area was tied up by criminals. Three men were arrested for the crime.
The housewife claimed she was sexually assaulted in her home. The perpetrators threatened to kill her if she spoke about the assault.
The survivor filed the complaint on Sunday (October 19), the incident happened on Friday (October 17). One person was arrested on Sunday, two others were arrested on Monday. All three perpetrators were from the same village as the survivors and knew each other, said Subal Chandra Ghosh, senior inspector at Maynaguri police station.
In two other sexual assault incidents in 2025, two young women were raped on two city university campuses. A student from Odisha was raped near her private medical college in Durgapur a few days ago.
Published – 21 Oct 2025 20:03 IST
