Cuttack: A committee formed by SCB Medical College & Hospital in Cuttack to probe the incident in which Padma Shri recipient Kamala Pujari was allegedly forced to dance inside the hospital’s ICU by a social activist has submitted its report.
According to a media report, the committee has said in the report that Kamala Pujari was kept in a special cabin in the hospital’s ICU. The woman who allegedly forced her to dance introduced herself as Kamala Pujari’s friend to the hospital staff in the presence of Kamala Pujari and her attendants, it said.
The hospital administration was unaware of the incident that took place inside the cabin and it is not possible for us to keep a watch inside the cabin expect for a patient’s medical needs, the media report quoted SCB’s Administrative Officer Abinash Rout as saying.
The committee was chaired by the hospital’s Medicine department head Prof Jayant Panda with Administrative Officer Abinash Rout and Prof B K Behera as members.
A video has gone viral in which the social worker, identified as Mamata Behera, is seen dancing with Kamala Pujari in the ICU with music playing in the background.
Defending herself, Mamata was quoted in media reports as saying that “Kamala Pujari was having a mental breakdown due to her illness and lost hope that she would survive. My intension was to make her mentally strong and help her get well soon. She herself insisted that she would do the Dhemsa dance.”
“I never wanted to dance but was forced to. I refused repeatedly, but she did not listen. I had to dance. I was sick and got tired,” the Padma Awardee told mediapersons earlier.
Meanwhile, Jeypore’s Sub-Collector has issued a notice to Mamata and attendant Rajeeb Hial. They have been asked to submit their response by September 6.
Members of the Paraja tribal community in Odisha have warned of protests over the incident.
Kamala Pujari, who was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2019 for promoting organic farming and preserving over 100 varieties of indigenous seeds of different crops including paddy, was admitted to SCB for kidney-related ailments. She was discharged from the hospital last week.
