Ambulance driver and helpers harass woman and remove life support from her husband, who later dies

Image for illustrative purposes only | Photo credit: Thulasi Kakkat

A woman was allegedly sexually abused by the driver and assistant of a private ambulance she hired to bring her terminally ill husband home, police said Wednesday.

The defendant also interrupted the oxygen supply to her husband, who later died, it was said.

The woman's husband was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Lucknow.

For financial reasons, she decided to accept his discharge and take him home in a private ambulance on the evening of August 29. On the way back, however, the woman was allegedly harassed by the driver and his assistant, police said.

According to her complaint, when she resisted, the driver stopped the ambulance in Basti district, about 150 kilometers from the destination, and forced her, her brother and her husband out of the vehicle.

The woman contacted the local police, who arranged another ambulance to take her husband to Gorakhpur Medical College, where he was declared dead on arrival.

The woman returned to Lucknow and filed a complaint against the driver at the Ghazipur police station on Wednesday.

“We have filed a case regarding the incident based on the complaint filed by the woman. Our teams are trying to arrest the accused,” said Lucknow Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Jitendra Kumar Dubey.