Noufal V, the ambulance driver who raped a COVID-19 patient while taking her to the hospital, has been terminated from service. GVK EMRI, the company that hires ambulance drivers, in an order on Sunday said that Noufal has been dismissed from service, considering the “serious misconduct he did and the disrepute he brought to the organisation”.
“A complaint lodged by a beneficiary of the 108 ambulance regarding sexual assault and the same has been informed to us by the police department and being part of the services you have brought serious disrepute to the organisation. You have been convicted under a criminal offense involving serious allegations of committing assault which you were directly involved and arrested for, your employment is being terminated with immediate effect,” the letter reads.
The 19-year-old COVID-19 patient was raped by the driver at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district on Saturday night. He was arrested the same night.
Noufal was a driver of Kerala’s 108 Kanivu, a free ambulance service network as part of the comprehensive trauma care system for government hospitals.
Noufal was taking two women who tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the ambulance on Saturday. He dropped off one woman at a hospital while he raped the 19-year-old after halting the ambulance in a deserted place. He later dropped her off at a hospital in Pandalam.
It has also emerged that Noufal was previously accused of attempt to murder in 2019.
Health Minister KK Shailaja had said that 108 ambulance drivers are assigned through an agency and that the agency had been informed to remove him from service. “The drivers are recruited through an interview. There will be an inquiry on why the person’s criminal background was not checked,” she said.