Thane, Oct 5 (PTI) Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre, the prime accused in a doctor assault case, and three others have surrendered before the trial court in Thane district after the Supreme Court cancelled their bail.
The court remanded them to Adharwadi Jail in Kalyan after they surrendered on Sunday, officials said.
Mhatre and others are accused of assaulting and verbally abusing three doctors, including a lady doctor, who were on duty in the labour ward of the Shastri Nagar Municipal Hospital at Dombivli in Thane district on July 6.
On September 28, the Supreme Court had cancelled the bail of Mhatre and his associates Ramesh Pawar, Pramod alias Prakash Nikam, and Akshay Sharad Karande, set aside a Bombay High Court order, and asked them to surrender before the trial court by October 5.
Another accused, Sadhana Sanjay Karande, had already been remanded to judicial custody in Adharwadi Jail after a Kalyan court denied her bail earlier.
The top court had noted that a doctor cannot be expected to exercise sound and independent judgment while working under the apprehension of physical violence, intimidation or coercion.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said in its order that physical violence, intimidation or coercion cannot become a means of expressing dissatisfaction with medical treatment, securing compliance with a demand or raising grievance for an adverse medical outcome.
The bench detailed Mhatre’s antecedents and said the courts below had failed to accord due consideration to his criminal history, against whom 18 cases are stated to have been registered, including those involving serious offences punishable under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
The assault incident took place at Shastri Nagar Hospital on July 6 after family members of a pregnant woman accused hospital staff of delaying treatment. Mhatre and the four other accused gathered at the hospital and assaulted the doctors after an argument over the alleged delay in the treatment.
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 case that had led to massive outrage.
The high court imposed strict conditions on all and ordered them to stay outside Maharashtra until the chargesheet in the case is filed. PTI COR NSK GK
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