City Buzz: Now, Sania’s doctors threatened

Hyderabad: Ever since she shot into limelight, Sania Mirza has faced one peculiar problem. A section of her own community treated her as the villain of her religion. From issuing fatwas on her sporting gear to the recent allegation that she has hurt the sentiments of the community by trespassing into the historic Mecca Masjid in the old city, they have been troubling Sania Mirza no end.

Now her detractors seem to be spreading their net wider, training their focus even on those who are associated with the player. The doctors who have been treating Sania Mirza for her injuries from time to time over the last few years have been the targets of hate mail.

Dr K J Reddy of the Apollo Hospital here, who was responsible for the player’s rehabilitation on several occasions in the past and had helped her recover from career-threatening injuries, has been warned by a few individuals and groups from India and Pakistan.

The senior orthopedic surgeon has received four letters all of which warned him of dire consequences if he continued to treat Sania Mirza as she was bringing bad name to their religion.

While two letters were received from Pakistan, one was from Bangalore and the other from Kannouj in Uttar Pradesh.

The message is simple in all these four letters: “Dont treat Sania. She is getting injured because God does not want her to play as she was bringing bad name to the religion. Please don’t treat her or else you will face serious consequences. We will not hesitate to harm you.”

In an envelope that the doctor received immediately after he treated Sania Mirza last March, a letter was even addressed to Sania.

“I have informed Sania’s father about this but kept it from the girl because I thought these things will affect her game as also the treatment,” said Dr Reddy.

What was his first reaction? “I felt disturbed for a few days. I will not say I was frightened but we cannot ignore these things. One thing that disturbed me most was that they are targeting the doctor. I don’t understand why they are upset with Sania. She is the pride of the nation and everybody should be proud of her achievements,” Reddy said.

The letter from Uttar Pradesh was addressed to Dr Reddy and the CEO of Apollo Hospital Dr Hariprasad. Signed by one Noor, the letter is written in Hindi with a footnote in English which warned the doctor to get the letter translated into English in case he didn’t know Hindi, for it was important for him as well as Sania Mirza to know its contents.

It ends with a stern warning: “Please pay attention to the letters otherwise it should be very harmful for you.”