The Bombay High Court on Saturday cancelled the bail of Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre, who was arrested for assaulting doctors and medical staff of a civic hospital in Maharashtra's Thane earlier this month. The development follows days after a magistrate court granted Mhatre bail in connection with the case.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the matter, the high court directed Mhatre to surrender till 5 pm on July 19, adding that next hearing in the case will take place on July 22.
The order was passed by a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad, which also urged doctors to withdraw their protest slated for July 22 in view of their "service to the mankind."
"Even though he was acquitted in 17 cases, the Court ought to have considered the fact that he was named in 18 cases some of which were of very serious and heinous nature," the high court observed, as reported by Live Law.
The public outrage against Mhatre
A video of Mhatre and his three associated assaulting two doctors and a medical staff of the of the civic hospital earlier this month, drawing condemnation and outrage from the public. They assaulted the staff after a family was advised to shift a newborn to another facility.
Following the incident, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) threatened shut clinics and hospitals in the area after which a case was registered against Mhatre and five others. Later, they were also arrested by the police and sent to judicial custody after their police remand ended earlier this week.
However, Mhatre, a corporator of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) in the Thane district, was granted bail by a local court on July 14. Later, the case moved to the high court, with doctors warning of a protest next week.
The IMA has also accused the police of extending "VIP treatment" to Mhatre and claimed the officials threatened to register case against them for "obstructing their work". The association has now raised four demands, including an apology and suspension of a senior police inspector who allegedly threatened lawyers.
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