Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Police have launched an investigation after videos of several women patients being examined by doctors inside a hospital in Rajkot surfaced on social media, majorly Telegram and YouTube. The incident has triggered outrage among locals and concerns about women’s safety in medical establishments.
The Cyber Crime Branch initiated the probe when some of these videos from the Payal Maternity Home began spreading on social media platforms. The footage, seemingly captured from CCTV cameras, shows women patients being examined in a closed hospital room by a female doctor or receiving injections from a nurse.
How videos from Gujarat hospital ended up on internet
According to Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Hardik Makadia, an initial investigation revealed that the accused created a Telegram group linked to a YouTube channel, where the videos were uploaded.
“The accused had uploaded seven such videos on the YouTube channel and included a link to a Telegram group in the description. Members were asked to pay a fee to access similar videos. To attract subscribers, the accused shared screenshots from the videos,” Makadia told reporters on Monday.
Telegram, YouTube channel under scrutiny
The investigation also revealed that the Telegram group was created in September last year, while the associated YouTube channel was launched in January this year.
“So far, the channel has uploaded seven videos showing women being examined by doctors on a hospital bed. The Telegram group promoting the channel has over 90 members. The videos appear to be taken from CCTV footage, and in one of them, a nurse and a woman patient can be heard speaking in Gujarati.
“We have yet to identify the hospital where these videos were recorded,” Makadia added. The process of registering a First Information Report (FIR) is underway, he added. Sources indicated that the videos were filmed inside the labour room of a maternity hospital in Rajkot.
Rajkot MLA Darshita Shah said that all necessary steps will be taken to ensure that the patients’ private information is protected and the guilty will be punished legally.
Meanwhile, an official from Payal Hospital in Rajkot told reporters that their footage may have been hacked. “We have done nothing wrong and will fully cooperate with the police in their investigation,” the hospital official stated.
