At least 17 people, including Shiv Sena office-bearers, have been booked after doctors and hospital staff were allegedly assaulted at Relief Hospital in Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said on Sunday.</p>
<p>The trouble began early Sunday morning when members of a Govinda troupe, participants who form human pyramids to break a suspended earthen pot during the Dahi Handi festival, were being discharged after receiving treatment for injuries sustained at a Dahi Handi event. The group grew agitated after they were presented with a bill of Rs 19,866.
What followed was a heated confrontation. Members of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction allegedly verbally abused, threatened, and physically attacked hospital staff. CCTV visuals reportedly captured one of the group slapping a receptionist who attempted to intervene, and a woman employee being threatened when she tried to step in.
According to the complaint filed by a hospital employee, Shiv Sena district chief Kundan Sankhe and city chief Rahul Gharat entered the hospital's emergency department and got into an argument with doctors. Some members of the group then forced their way into the Intensive Care Unit. Staff alleged that the group threatened a nurse inside the ICU, removed the IV drip of an injured Govinda, and took him away with them.
Palghar Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Medical Services Protection Act. Among the 17 individuals named are Shiv Sena leaders Sankhe, Gharat, and Rohit Gavit, son of local MLA Rajendra Gavit. Police are currently scanning CCTV footage and reviewing other evidence as part of their investigation.
This is not an isolated episode. In a similar incident reported in July, Shiv Sena Corporator Ramesh Mhatre was accused of assaulting doctors at a civic hospital in Kalyan. A case was registered against him, and the Bombay High Court subsequently cancelled the bail granted to Mhatre, directing him to surrender before police.
