RAWALPINDI: Paramedical and nursing staff of the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) staged a protest after a female nurse was allegedly assaulted by relatives of a patient on Monday.

The protest was called off after an FIR was registered against three female and some male members of the patient’s family on charges of threatening the nursing staff with dire consequences, using physical force against a woman and insulting her modesty.

Ms Sitara Saleem, an in-charge nurse at RIC, lodged an FIR with Waris Khan police, saying that she was on duty as a charge nurse in the RIC emergency ward when, at about 5am, three daughters of a female patient were asked to leave the emergency room.

She further said that when they were asked to leave, they became angry and started shouting at and abusing her. She was then allegedly dragged towards the male ward, where two men also joined them and started beating her.

She alleged that the women tore her clothes and tried to take them off. “Even after I pleaded, they kept threatening me that they were rich people and would fire me from my job,” she said in her complaint.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2026