FIR filed against 21 doctors for Nirman Bhawan protest

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police have filed an FIR against 21 doctors from prominent hospitals, including AIIMS and Safdarjung, following their protest outside Nirman Bhawan against the rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. The doctors have been charged under Section 143 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for unlawful assembly as well as for violating a prohibitory order under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The FIR was lodged at Tughlak Road Police Station.

The doctors, who represent some of the most prestigious medical institutions in Delhi—such as AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College, Ram Manohar Lohia, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and Maulana Azad Medical College—gathered to protest the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old junior doctor in West Bengal. The incident has sparked nationwide outrage, leading the doctors to voice their concerns.

Those named in the FIR include Dr Inder Prakash, Dr Ansar Mehndi, Dr Chinmay, Dr Himanshu Sharma, Dr Prakalp, Dr Raghunandan Dixit, and Dr Shubhankar Dutta from AIIMS; Dr Gautam and Dr Nitin Bagri from RML; Dr Abhishek Garg and Dr Sharda from Lady Hardinge Medical College; Dr Bharani, Dr Subham Saini, Dr Saksham, Dr Arpana, and Dr Aditi from Safdarjung Hospital; Dr Rajat from University College of Medical Sciences; Dr Bhanu from PG; Dr Vipin from Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital; and Dr Vinayak Kumar and Dr Gaurav Chaudhary from GTB Hospital.

According to the police, the area around Nirman Bhawan, near Maulana Azad Road, was under a prohibitory order as per Section 144 CrPC, which bans the assembly of more than four people. The protesting doctors, however, defied this order by gathering and chanting slogans. The FIR was subsequently filed against them for violating the prohibitory order.

As of now, no senior police officials have commented. A source close to the matter confirmed that the FIR was registered at Tughlak Road Police Station.