HC slams lax probe in Palghar hospital violence
Five days after a group of people attacked staff at a private hospital over the treatment of an injured ‘Govinda’, Palghar Police in Maharashtra on Friday arrested 14 persons, including a Shiv Sena MLA’s son, even as the Bombay High Court termed the probe so far as “ridiculous and seriously flawed” and sought a report from a high-ranking official.
The action taken by the Palghar police appeared to be “merely superficial and seemed to have been carried out in a manner that would ultimately benefit the accused”, the High Court said. On the intervening night of September 5 and 6, Sena workers barged into Relief Hospital at Palghar, where a few injured ‘Govindas’ who had participated in the Dahi Handi celebrations had been admitted. Claiming that the hospital was charging exorbitant fees, they allegedly vandalised the property, threatened the doctors, assaulted staff members and forcibly took away one of the injured persons from the ICU.
Shiv Sena Palghar city chief Rahul Gharat was arrested in the case on September 7, following which he was suspended from the party. A police official said another 14 persons were arrested on Friday, including MLA Rajendra Gavit’s son Rohit. The police have registered a First Information Report against a total of 22 persons. In the High Court, the bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata directed the Additional Inspector General of Police, Konkan division, to examine the investigation and submit a report on September 17 stating whether the action taken by the Palghar police was legally proper. The bench questioned the “lackadaisical” manner in which the investigation had been carried out so far, from the preparation of the panchnama (spot inspection report) to the station case diary entries.
The bench was originally hearing a plea taken up suo motu (on its own) into the assault that occurred at a civic hospital in Thane in July, in which Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre is an accused, when senior counsel Ashok Mundargi informed it about the Palghar incident.
