LONDON: A Sindhi nationalist activist and family doctor who abused his position to sexually assault five female patients while pretending to carry out medical examinations has been jailed for seven years.
Dr Haleem Bhatti has been active in London as the foremost leader of the World Sindhi Congress (WSC), a Sindhi nationalist diaspora organization and has been involved in various campaigns. He also represented the WSC at many international forums and spoke against the practices of the Pakistani government but his exposure as a sex pervert has shocked Sindhi nationalists all over the world.
Bhatti picked his victims carefully and when they consulted him for rashes, chest pain and weight gain, taking the opportunity to violate their most private areas. The trial was told in clear how the 48-year-old British Pakistani doctor groped his victims’ breasts, took liberty with their body parts and asked inappropriate questions about their sex lives. The court found Dr Bhatti, who worked at the Greengate Medical Centre in Plaistow, east London, between September 2006 and July 2009, molested the women while he worked as a family doctor. He was cleared of two charges against a sixth woman.
According to a detailed account in the daily Mail newspaper, Judge Simon Davis said the shamed Pakistani qualified medic had “abused his position as a GP” and “deliberately fabricated” his patients’ medical notes to disguise his “dreadful” illegal behaviour.
Sarah Jane Campbell, prosecuting, said Bhatti had to take advantage of the women “under the guise of performing medical examinations”, acted “opportunistically” and left the women feeling “very uncomfortable, upset and stupid” for not stopping him as soon as they suspected he was acting inappropriately.
She said: “There were examinations of the breast or touching of the private parts, in circumstances where there could have been no medical justification for Dr Bhatti to do so. On none of the occasions did he ask the women if they wished to have a chaperone. Invariably he did not wear gloves when touching them, which is against the guidance of the General Medical Council.”
The judge was informed in full details how the patients were abused repeatedly. During police interview Bhatti denied acting inappropriately with any of his patients and claimed that one of the complainants was upset with him because he had not referred her to a specialist as she wished.
Bhatti presented before the court four character witnesses who appreciated his human rights work, his respectful nature, fairness to women but the evidence against Bhatti was overwhelming and convincing.
While sentencing Bhatti, the judge told him: “You are a man who should have known better. There was no need for you to conduct the examination to the extent that you did for the reasons that you did and I find your motive was sexual gratification. You have not come to terms with that in the pre-sentence report. It is quite clear that you still profess your innocence. You will have to take time to consider whether that’s a sensible approach into the future.’
Dr Haleem Bhatti is now likely to be struck off by the GMC and he will have to sign indefinitely as a sex offender. He organized almost all demonstrations against Pakistani military operations and was a key support behind many Baloch and Sindhi groups active in Europe.
Dr Bhatti’s sentencing has horrified these groups and it’s considered a big setback to their movements as their opponents will hold the sex conviction of their leader against them. No one from the World Sindhi Congress was available to comment.
