“For the first time, we were made to feel like we’re Muslims,” says Mehfuza Khatun, a relative of a seven-month pregnant woman who was allegedly verbally abused and refused medical care by a doctor in Kolkata — simply because she is a Muslim.
The incident occurred during a routine prenatal check-up at the clinic of Dr CK Sarkar, who had been treating the woman, referred to as A*, for the past seven months. According to the family, everything changed the moment the doctor read her full name.
“The doctor took her consultation fee and started writing her name,” said Khatun. “Then she asked her full name again. When she heard it, she said things that shocked us. She told her, ‘Go to madrasas or mosques for your treatment. That’s where they teach you how to become terrorists.’”
The incident took place just days after a deadly attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, where over 25 people, most of them tourists, were killed. The doctor allegedly invoked the tragedy to spew hate against A*.
“She told her, ‘You people killed innocent Hindus in Pahalgam. You should be killed too. Your husband should be murdered by Hindus so that you know what it feels like,’” Khatun told The Observer Post.
A* had gone alone for the check-up, accompanied only by her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Terrified by the remarks, she rushed home without completing her appointment. Later, after gathering courage, she called the doctor to ask why she was treated this way.
“We have a recording of that call,” Khatun said. “A* asked her, ‘Why did you insult me like this?’ The doctor replied, ‘What I did was right. You people are uneducated murderers.’ She repeated those same hateful words and then cut the call.”
This story was originally published in theobserverpost.com. Read the full story here.