Court Asks Police to Produce Sena Corporator Physically, Rejects Plea for Video Conferencing
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 9: Taking a hard stand on the arrested Shiv Sena (Shinde) corporator assaulting two doctors and other medical staff members in a civil hospital in Dombivli in Maharashtra, a court on Thursday rejected the plea to produce him through video conferencing citing his ill health and said no direction on police remand or judicial custody would be given till the accused was produced physically before the curt.
The court in Kalyan dismissed the application to allow Ramesh Mhatre, the Shiv Sena corporator who assaulted two doctors and other staff members at a Dombivli hospital, to appear for a hearing via video conferencing because of ill health.
Mhatre, who carried out the assault with his aides on Monday, was arrested on Wednesday following public outrage over his actions. He was admitted to the Thane Civil Hospital soon after because his health allegedly deteriorated.
Doctors said Mhatre was being treated under the supervision of experts in the ICU. The corporator, they said, has only one kidney, his blood pressure (BP) has increased, and has also been complaining of frequent vomiting. On Thursday, the police filed an application before the court in Kalyan to allow Mhatre to be produced through video conferencing, citing his medical condition.
The defence made the same request and pointed out that the corporator is 73 years old. It also urged the court to grant the police custody of Mhatre till Friday as the custody of the other three accused also ends on the same day, and they could be produced together. The court rejected the application and said Mhatre must be produced before it physically. The judge made it clear that neither police nor judicial custody would be granted till this was done.
According to Mhatre’s advocate AY Patki, the corporator is not in police custody but in the confinement of the police while he is undergoing treatment after his arrest. This arrangemenwould continue till he remained in the hospital under treatment. Doctors said a medical bulletin on the corporator’s condition would be issued by Friday morning after which a decision on his possible discharge would be taken.
Mhatre, who belongs to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and his aides had stormed into the Dombivli hospital after a family had complained that their newborn was asked to be taken to another facility as the NICU was full. A video showed the men assaulting two doctors, including a woman, and other staff members.
Meanwhile, the woman doctor assaulted by Mhatre has quit the hospital. Srushti Baviskar’s resignation comes a day after her colleague Vaibhav Salunkhe, who was slapped by the corporator, quit his job and left the city. “I have resigned because there is a lot of fear. Goons are watching us, and I have already left the city. They are very dangerous people. The other doctors may continue working there, but I cannot. I will not go back there again,” Salunkhe had said.
KDMC (Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation) Chief Medical Officer Dr Deepa Shukla, however, said doctors Vaibhav Salunkhe and Srushti Baviskar have not submitted their resignations. Both doctors were appointed at the hospital through a third-party hiring agency. They have not submitted their resignations to this parent agency either. “They are absent from their duties without notice,” she added.
Mhatre had carried out the assault on a group of medical staff at Dombivli’s Shastri Nagar Hospital, run by the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. The row had started after two doctors – a man and a woman – advised the relatives to shift a newborn to another facility as the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the hospital was full. The relatives then approached Mhatre, who arrived at the hospital with his associates and the matter escalated from there.
A video showed the Sena corporator hitting a woman doctor from behind. He then turned to the other doctor and staff members and assaulted them. Following public outrage after the video of the attack was widely circulated, Mhatre was arrested on Wednesday. But he was admitted to the Thane Civil Hospital soon after on health grounds, sparking allegations of preferential treatment.
