Bombay HC slams Palghar police probe into Sena workers’ hospital attack

Bombay High Court on Friday, 11 September once again pulled up Palghar police over their “lackadaisical” investigation into the alleged assault of medical staff and vandalism at a private hospital by Shiv Sena workers, calling the probe “ridiculous and seriously flawed”.

A 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 to the court on 17 September stating whether the action taken by Palghar police was legally proper.

The court observed that the action taken so far appeared to be “merely superficial and seemed to have been carried out in a manner that would ultimately benefit the accused”.

The bench questioned several aspects of the investigation, from the preparation of the panchnama or spot inspection report to entries made in the station case diary.

The incident took place between the night of 5 and 6 September, when several Sena workers allegedly barged into Relief Hospital in Palghar, where injured ‘govindas’ who had participated in the Janmashtami dahi handi celebrations on 5 September were admitted.

The workers allegedly claimed that the hospital was charging high fees before vandalising the property, threatening doctors, assaulting staff and forcibly taking away injured persons admitted to the ICU.

The bench was hearing a suo motu plea concerning an assault at a civic hospital in Thane in July, in which Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre is an accused. During the proceedings, senior counsel Ashok Mundargi informed the court about the Palghar incident earlier this week.

The police have registered an FIR against 22 people, including Shiv Sena district chief Kundan Sankhe, city chief Rahul Gharat, the son of MLA Rajendra Gavit and deputy taluka chief Rohit Gavit, in connection with the Palghar incident. Only Gharat had been arrested, while nine others were absconding.

On Friday, public prosecutor Shishir Hiray told the court that 12 people who were initially shown as unidentified in the FIR had since been arrested. Of the nine absconding accused, three had filed anticipatory bail pleas, which were rejected, Hiray said.

With PTI inputs