A day after dna's report on Cooper hospital doctors' failure to inform police about the rape of the 29-year-old model from Sakinaka, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which owns the hospital, has initiated an inquiry into the matter.The hospital has allegedly violated the amended sexual assault law whose section 357 (c) makes it mandatory for doctors receiving sexual assault cases to immediately inform the police. According to the police, after the incident, the victim had approached the hospital for getting herself medically checked. Even though her medical examination conducted at Cooper hospital clearly indicated sexual abuse, the doctors did not see fit to inform the local police station about the incident.

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Dr SS Gawde, the medical superintendent of RN Cooper Hospital confirmed that the victim had come to the hospital on April 3 and all necessary protocol was followed by his doctors. "I have been informed that all necessary protocol was followed by the doctors after the victim had come to our hospital," said Dr Gawde. But he failed to say why police were not informed about the sexual assault case.After the Delhi gang rape and Mumbai's Shakti Mill rape case, the BMC had started one-stop crisis management centres in its hospitals. These centres would collect medical evidence, provide counselling, conduct required tests and provide easy access to a sexual assault victim, instead of sending her from one department to another for various tests.Dr SJ Nagda, director of major civic hospitals in BMC, said, "We are investigating the case. We will find out if the police were informed in this case. Appropriate action will be taken against the person who failed to follow the protocol."According to forensic experts and police officials, the delay in initiating investigation led to crucial evidence, such as bite marks on the victim, being missed. "While the swabs from the bite marks were taken, the doctors allegedly sat on the evidence until the police approached them after the FIR was lodged," said a senior police official. As a result, the bite marks on the victim have now vanished.

The medical check up copy (available with dna) clearly mentions the presence of bite marks on the model's private parts and complaints of peno-oral sex. Expressing shock about the error on the part of the doctors, advocate Persis Sidhva from Majlis Legal centre, an NGO for women's rights, said, "Under 357 (C) of CRPC, the doctor has to immediately inform the police when they get a sexual assualt case. In case s/he doesn't, it is criminal breach and under 166 B of IPC, the person can be sentenced to either one year's imprisonment or fine, or both. Police needs to check if the victim was examined at Cooper Hospital on April 3, why the FIR was not filed on the same day, and why the evidence was not sent for further analysis."