CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: Shiv Sena MP Hemant Patil, who forced Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital’s acting dean Shamrao Wakode to clean dirty washrooms and urinals on Tuesday, has been booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Maharashtra Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act 2010. Ten to 15 others too have been booked in the same case.
In an FIR registered with the Nanded rural police station, IPC sections 353 (using criminal force to deter a government employee from performing official duty), 506 (criminal intimidation), 500 (defamation) have also been invoked against the suspects.
When contacted, Patil said: “It is absurd to register an FIR under the Atrocities Act. Neither did I ask the GMCH dean’s caste, nor did I make any casteist remarks against him. We had gone to the hospital for a review following the death of 35 patients. We saw the filth and squalor and, therefore, made the dean clean the premises. There was a countrywide Swachta Abhiyan on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. It’s just that the dean did the clean up activity two days later.” Further questioning the FIR, Patil asked if the police or the complainants want all people’s representatives to check the public servants’ caste before questioning them about matters of public interest. “Let there be a thorough probe. The facts will come out,” he said.
Dean Wakode, however, could not be reached for his comments on the issue.
Nanded superintendent of police Shrikrishna Kokate said the FIR is based on GMCH dean Wakode’s complaint. “As the FIR has been registered, the law will take its own course,” he added. Kokate refused to elaborate further saying the investigation is still at a preliminary stage.
Subdivisional police officer Sushil Nayak has been appointed the investigation officer. After the video of the dean being forced to clean toilets was uploaded on social media platforms, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi’s Farooq Ahmed and his supporters staged a protest against Patil on the hospital premises late on Tuesday evening. Even resident doctors’ protested against the incident. Dr Prasad Kotkar, the Nanded branch president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), meanwhile, has extended support to the resident doctors’ protest.
In an FIR registered with the Nanded rural police station, IPC sections 353 (using criminal force to deter a government employee from performing official duty), 506 (criminal intimidation), 500 (defamation) have also been invoked against the suspects.
When contacted, Patil said: “It is absurd to register an FIR under the Atrocities Act. Neither did I ask the GMCH dean’s caste, nor did I make any casteist remarks against him. We had gone to the hospital for a review following the death of 35 patients. We saw the filth and squalor and, therefore, made the dean clean the premises. There was a countrywide Swachta Abhiyan on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. It’s just that the dean did the clean up activity two days later.” Further questioning the FIR, Patil asked if the police or the complainants want all people’s representatives to check the public servants’ caste before questioning them about matters of public interest. “Let there be a thorough probe. The facts will come out,” he said.
Dean Wakode, however, could not be reached for his comments on the issue.
Nanded superintendent of police Shrikrishna Kokate said the FIR is based on GMCH dean Wakode’s complaint. “As the FIR has been registered, the law will take its own course,” he added. Kokate refused to elaborate further saying the investigation is still at a preliminary stage.
Subdivisional police officer Sushil Nayak has been appointed the investigation officer. After the video of the dean being forced to clean toilets was uploaded on social media platforms, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi’s Farooq Ahmed and his supporters staged a protest against Patil on the hospital premises late on Tuesday evening. Even resident doctors’ protested against the incident. Dr Prasad Kotkar, the Nanded branch president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), meanwhile, has extended support to the resident doctors’ protest.