Doctor Gets 12 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault on Patients in UK

Jaswant Rathore, a doctor of Indian origin in the United Kingdom, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Jan. 17 for sexual assault on four women patients from 2008 to 2015.

The 60 -year-old general practitioner had migrated to the United Kingdom at the age of three with his family. He was leading the primary care section of the Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group.

The doctor from West Midlands was convicted of 10 charges of sexual assault between 2008 and 2015. He was found guilty of eight counts of sexual assault and two counts of assault by penetration on patients whose age was between 20 and 30 years over a period of two and a half years.

A statement from the Crown Prosecution Service said that on May 24, 2015, one of Rathore’s patients contacted police to inform them that she had been sexually assaulted by the doctor at his Castle Meadows Surgery where he was the practice principal. The statement added that during the manipulations and without proper consent, Rathore removed the victim’s clothes and touched her inappropriately. This made her feel uncomfortable and distressed.

“Many witnesses in the trial spoke highly of your professionalism, diligence, expertise and amiability. These qualities made you, for many of your patients, the ‘go-to’ doctor in the area. You used your standing within the community as a cloak behind which you could carry out sexual assaults on your patients for your personal gratification,” judge Michael Challinor said while sentencing him, the Guardian reported.

The judge added that Rathore had violated the faith his patients had in him to carry out legitimate medical procedures. During a seven-week hearing, the Wolverhampton crown court was told that the doctor had assaulted patients who visited him complaining of vomiting and hay fever. He would pretend as if the actions were required for the diagnosis and treatment.

The jury found Rathore not guilty of eight suspected sexual assaults on four other patients. The doctor denied all charges levied on him and said that he maintained professional decorum while treating the patients. The touching in each case was a part of “manipulative therapy” and was medically right.

“You deliberately avoided offering chaperones, giving little or no explanation for what you were doing, and failed to make adequate notes in order to hide your offending,” added judge Challinor. He also said that some of the behavior of the doctor showed a breathtaking degree of arrogance. “You no doubt hoping your standing in the medical community would enable you to talk your way out of any difficulty,” said the judge, the report added.

Rathore had been instructed to register as a sex offender for life. The General Medical Council suspended him after he was arrested and he was made the subject of a 15-year sexual harm prevention order.

Detective Inspector Michelle Thurgood of West Midlands Police, who led the police investigation for this case, said that it was a terrible breach of trust and it came from a doctor who held a position of respect in the community.

“Many of the patients had gone to him for many years, so absolutely trusted him. We go to our doctor when we’re at our most vulnerable and he has abused that trust by carrying out those offences,” said Thurgood, reported PTI. He added that the police suspected that there may be others who were assaulted by the doctor as he was in the profession for a long time. Thurgood urged others who may have been assaulted by the doctor to come forward.

“Dr Jaswant Rathore abused his position of trust to carry out a series of sexual assaults against a number of his female patients. He preyed on women who contacted him for medical assistance, but rather than offer them help, he assaulted them for his own sexual gratification,” Ian Pinkney from the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.

Pinkney added that the defendant did not have the relevant skills, techniques and training to perform the therapy that he was offering, nor did he provide the necessary safeguards to the victims when he conducted the manipulations.