Patna,(BiharTimes): Two young graduates of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, working with an associate of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in Bihar have landed in a jail in Muzaffarpur district after being publicly thrashed by the hospital staff.

Though the incident took place on June 20 it was first reported in a section of the media on June 29. This nine days delay raises suspicion about the allegations levelled by the hospital staff that the two youths had indulged in sexual misbehaviour.

According to chief medical officer-cum-civil surgeon Gyan Bhushan the two TISS graduates, Shikhar and Mohammad Shadab, were found loitering in a women’s ward of the Sadar hospital. They introduced themselves as trainee IAS officers and rebuked nurses and paramedical staff on June 20 in the presence of patients.

He said that when the nurses and paramedical staff objected the duo threatened them that they would be suspended.

Bhushan alleged that they also tore up attendance registers and used choicest expletives against the nurses. Upon this the nurses lodged an FIR at Town police station and the duo were sent to Khudiram Bose Memorial Central Jail.

One of the nurses claimed that the two youths asked for a meeting with 15 girls

However, both TISS and family members of the two young graduates from India’s premier social science institute, strongly denied the charge. They said that they are being framed.

District magistrate Anupam Kumar was quoted in the Telegraph as saying: “They should have met officials concerned or other administrative officers and should have disclosed their identities.”

Foundation representative Ashutosh Kumar met the DM, who has ordered necessary action in this connection.

Muzaffarpur SSP Jitendra Rana, said, the matter has been brought to the notice of the police now, He assured that the two youths would get justice.

The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation is one of the major donors behind government health schemes in Bihar. Bill & Melinda Gates themselves have visited Bihar many a times to see the progress of the schemes they sponsor. However, this incident has forced them to drop this survey even before it could take off.

It issued a statement on the entire matter:
“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation states that the two men detained at the Muzaffarpur Hospital in Bihar are/were not employed as interns or in any other capacity at any given point of time by the Foundation as has been wrongly reported in the media. They were working as data collectors contracted independently by a grantee as a part of 'Bihar Knowledge Network' grant awarded in November 2013 which aims to understand knowledge flows across networks in the health system in Bihar.
This study is separate from the ongoing monitoring of our program interventions, carried out in partnership with the Government of Bihar. The Foundation is committed to full cooperation with the investigating teams and to providing any information required to conduct a fair investigation."