Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre and three others surrendered before a trial court on Sunday after the Supreme Court cancelled their bail. The group faced charges for assaulting doctors at a municipal hospital on July 6. The court sent them to Adharwadi Jail following the Supreme Court’s strict September 28 order.
Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre, the main accused in the assault on doctors at a municipal hospital in Maharashtra's Thane district, and three others surrendered before a trial court after the Supreme Court cancelled their bail. Officials said the court on Sunday sent them to Adharwadi Jail in Kalyan.
The Supreme Court had on September 28 set aside a Bombay High Court order granting them bail and directed Mhatre, Ramesh Pawar, Pramod alias Prakash Nikam and Akshay Sharad Karande to surrender before the trial court by October 5.
Another accused, Sadhana Sanjay Karande, had already been sent to judicial custody in the same jail after a Kalyan court earlier rejected her bail plea.
The case relates to an incident at Shastri Nagar Municipal Hospital in Dombivli on July 6. Mhatre and the four other accused are charged with assaulting and verbally abusing three doctors, including a woman doctor, who were on duty in the labour ward.
The assault took place after family members of a pregnant woman accused the hospital staff of delaying treatment. Following an argument over the alleged delay, the accused gathered at the hospital and attacked the doctors.
In its order, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said that "a doctor cannot be expected to exercise sound and independent judgment while working under the apprehension of physical violence, intimidation or coercion".
The bench also said 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 Supreme Court also referred to Mhatre's criminal record and said the lower courts had failed to properly consider it. It noted that 18 cases were stated to have been registered against him, including serious offences under IPC sections 302 for murder and 307 for attempt to murder.
Earlier, on August 7, the High Court had granted bail to Mhatre and the four other accused, ordered that the trial be fast-tracked and completed within a fixed time, and directed them to stay outside Maharashtra until the chargesheet was filed.