MARGAO: Shocked with the Margao police registering an offence against a very senior Dr Prakash Audi, a large number of doctors, many of whom are part of the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) Margao Branch, rushed to the Margao police station on Monday to express their solidarity with Dr Audi and alleged the molestation case registered against him was both false and fabricated.
The doctors, led by IMA Margao President Dr Babita Angle Prabhudesai, met with Margao Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Santosh Desai and criticised the manner in which the Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) had handled the investigation, while pointing to many gaps in the case against Dr Audi.
Condemning the registration of the FIR and injustice meted out to Dr Audi, they alleged that the PSI had behaved very badly with the senior doctor and demanded that an inquiry be initiated against the PSI as well.
Their main allegation was that the molestation case registered against Dr Audi was a fake and, in reality, a deliberate ploy to extort and blackmail Dr Audi and his family wherein the complainant had demanded to be paid Rs 25 lakh to allegedly drop the complaint.
The doctors also listed out the many achievements of the 77-year-old Dr Audi, who they said had devoted his life selflessly for his patients, even during Covid, and had an unblemished record as a doctor in Goa.
They further pointed out that the doctor has been practicing at the same clinic for nearly 40 years and that thousands of patients he treated can vouch for his character.
Pharmacists, medical representatives and members of the civic society also came forward to support Dr Audi.
Even the DySP admitted that people known to him had also called him to vouch for Dr Audi.
DySP Santosh assured to look into the complaints against the PSI and said he would speak to the SP and see that the case against the doctor would be handled by a senior official and that the PSI’s actions too would be questioned.
Regarding the allegations of extortion, the DySP said once they receive a formal complaint in that regard, they would carry out the investigation into these allegations too. He added that the FIR in the ongoing case was registered based on the complaint of the alleged victim.
Earlier, the IMA Margao Branch submitted a letter with hundreds of signatures of fellow doctors, where they detailed how Dr Audi had been harassed and how attempts were being made to tarnish his reputation.
They warned that they would approach the appropriate authority if their concerns were not looked into seriously.
Other doctors like Milind Desai, Deepak Lawande and Rudolf Vaz also demanded that a precedent be set so that doctors in the future are not harassed this way and that they are going to keep a strong vigil on the case so that Dr Audi gets justice.
Dr Babita also demanded that Dr Audi be allowed to open his clinic and be assured protection.
Other doctors also said that this unfortunate incident will unnecessarily come in the way of how they treat patients even though the doctors are following the Hippocratic oath they had taken.
“It is disheartening to see that the police, without any application of mind, have registered the offence against the doctor. There have been mentions of female and other patients being present at the time of the alleged offence, but no such patient seems to be examined by the police,” said Dr Angle in the letter sent to the Margao Town Inspector.
The doctors also called for investigations into one Digvijit Chavan who they alleged had tried to extort money and blackmail Dr Audi.
They praised Dr Audi and his son, who is also a doctor, for refusing to fall prey to such attempts.
“We wish to make it very clear that the entire medical fraternity strongly condemned such acts of maligning images of doctors, threatening and trying to extort money from them by trying to prove to them if such a complaint is registered than their reputation in the society will go to dust,” said Dr Babita.