The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Bombay High Court order granting bail to Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre who was accused of assaulting doctors at a municipal hospital in Thane district, asserting that the medical fraternity cannot be touched. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta admitted the Maharashtra government’s order appeal for hearing.
“The message should go out loud and clear that the medical fraternity cannot be touched. They serve people and cannot be attacked in this manner,” it said.
There was a similar incident involving the same party after the Mhatre episode, the apex court noted.
Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Mhatre, said two witnesses had already been examined. The complainant, a woman doctor, is to be examined on October 3, the trial has started and there is no obstruction, he said.
The bench said the Mhatre incident also shows that he was involved in 19 criminal cases including the present matter.
Dave argued that all these were politically motivated and he was acquitted in 18 of them.
Requesting for speedy trial as directed by the high court, the bench said it is not commenting anything on the direction.
On August 7, the high court granted bail to Mhatre and ordered that the trial be fast-tracked and completed in a time-bound manner. It also granted bail to the four other accused in the alleged assault case that had triggered a massive outrage in July.
The corporator has been directed by the SC to surrender within three days.
What did Ramesh Mhatre do?
On July 6, Mhatre and the other accused gathered at the hospital and assaulted the doctors after an argument over the alleged delay in the treatment of a woman patient. The incident took place at Shastri Nagar Hospital after the family of a pregnant woman was informed that the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) was full. Doctors advised the family to shift the newborn to another hospital if intensive care was needed. The situation soon escalated, following which Mhatre and his supporters allegedly entered the hospital and assaulted the staff.
CCTV footage of the incident, which has surfaced on social media, shows the corporator and several men punching and slapping doctors and hospital employees inside a room. The assault continued for more than three minutes.
The video also shows a woman doctor trying to use her mobile phone during the attack, possibly to seek help. She is seen attempting to stop the men and protect herself. When some of them tried to snatch her phone, she stepped behind a desk. Moments later, the corporator allegedly struck her from behind, causing the phone to fall from her hand, before continuing to assault other staff members.