In the case where two boys were allegedly beaten up by the Bandra police throughout Friday night, doctors of Bhabha Hospital where one of them, Asif Shaikh (19), has been admitted, on Monday morning held an agitation in protest of being allegedly manhandled by Asif’s family members.
Hospital and paramedical staff, including class four workers gathered on the premises and stayed away from duty for two hours as a token strike, demanding a safe and secure working atmosphere. Doctors claimed that when Asif was first brought to the hospital by his family, hospital staff asked the family to call the police and told them to wait. However, the family lost patience and manhandled staff.
A senior doctor said, “On Saturday evening at around 8 pm, this family and a mob entered the medical officers’ cabin where a lady doctor was sitting and started abusing doctors, trying to push tables etc. in the cabin. They even snatched a phone from the lady doctor.”
“On Monday morning at around 5.30 pm, an infant died during delivery after which the pregnant lady’s family tried to attack the nurse. Keeping both these incidents in mind, we stayed away from duty and our doctors, staff and paramedical staff declared a strike. Later, hospital authorities assured us they would deploy bouncers so we returned to work at about 1 pm,” he said.
The hospital has deployed a total of 10 bouncers for two shifts, with five per shift post the agitation.
Another senior doctor said, “We have filed an FIR from our side with Bandra police station against this mob of 40 people who attacked our doctors inside their cabin on Saturday night.”
When this newspaper paid a visit to Asif in the orthopaedic ward of Bhabha Hospital, he said, “When I was returning from Bhabha Hospital as one of my uncles was admitted here, I saw two drunkards sleeping on the road with a Tavera car coming from the other side. So I told them to move from there. Suddenly, this police van appeared and the police asked us what was wrong.”
“I narrated the entire incident but they took me to the police station, asked me my name, and started beating me. As I am a certificate holder in body building, they told me they would break my body. My friend Danish Shaikh was standing nearby and tried to stop the officers but in vain. Officer Kedar Pawar who was not patrolling saw me in the police station and started beating me brutally,” said Asif.
Asif’s uncle, Shaikh Umar Hasan, said, “The brutality is still on. Yesterday, an officer came to record my nephew’s statement but left without taking any. Doctors of this hospital are also creating pressure for us; they are again and again telling us to take discharge. This morning, MIM leader Waris Khan Pathan also visited us and spoke to the doctors and assured us of a safe atmosphere.”
Asked about doctors being manhandled by the family, Mr Hasan said, “We never behaved badly with any one.”
A senior doctor from Bhabha Hospital who did not wished to be named told The Asian Age, “The family is blaming us for no reason. We never refused any kind of admission to the boy. The only thing is that his physical condition does not require any medical admission. But the boy is under observation and we will keep a close eye on him for at least the next 72 hours.”
“Asif is just suffering from hand fracture, injury in the metacarpal bone and back injuries, and is stable now. The wounds he has will take 10 days to heal so keeping him in the hospital is not necessary,” he said.
Asked about the case registered under Section 353 of IPC against Asif and Danish for manhandling on-duty policemen Friday night, a senior officer from Bandra police station said, “These guys were violent; they abused on-duty officers and pushed them so we filed a case against them for manhandling duty officers.”
Asked about Asif’s family’s claims that the police was not registering their FIR, the senior officer said, “Investigation is on and we will take proper action against the guilty. The family is not supporting us. When our officer went to register the statement, they said that Asif was sleeping so we couldn’t register his statement.”
Meanwhile, DCP of the area Satyanarayan Chaudhary said, “Investigation is on. We are waiting for reports. Now we are registering statements and waiting for a statement from the boy’s side.”
