From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: Twenty-two persons have been arrested in the case of ‘mob’ assault on a doctor of a tea estate in Jorhat district of Upper Assam who later succumbed to his injuries at Jorhat Medical College Hospital on Saturday evening.
Deben Dutta, 73, the senior medical officer of Teok Tea Estate, was allegedly beaten by an enraged group on Saturday following the death of a labourer, Somra Majhi who was under treatment at the garden hospital.
Official sources told the media on Monday evening that 22 persons have been arrested in the case and produced before the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court, Jorhat. They have been sent to judicial custody.
Few more are likely to be picked up, the sources said.
A magisterial inquiry led by additional deputy commissioner, Subhan Gowalla into the incident is currently under way and a report will be submitted within a week.
The hearing in this regard will take place at the Teok revenue circle office from Tuesday to Thursday. All concerned parties, including the family members of the deceased, have been notified to attend the hearing. The garden management as a precautionary measure on Sunday, declared a lockout of the tea estate owned by Amalgamated Plantations Pvt Ltd.
Meanwhile, healthcare services in Jorhat district of Assam were affected on Monday, as medicos in government and private hospitals stayed away from work to protest against the killing of an elderly doctor by a mob, officials said.
However, services in the emergency and the OPD were kept out of the purview of the agitation, they said.
The agitation in Jorhat will be followed by a state- wide stir on Tuesday, when doctors will withdraw services from 6 am, barring the emergency departments, said president of the Assam Branch of the Indian Medical Association (INA), Satyajit Borah.
In Jorhat town, doctors, pharmacists and para-medical personnel held a dharna in front of the deputy commissioner’s office, demanding justice for 73-year-old Deben Dutta, who was assaulted by a mob on Saturday following the death of a patient in a tea estate hospital.
A statement issued by the IMA heaquarters in New Delhi said it strongly condemns the killing of Dutta.
“The medical profession is aghast at the level of violence prevailing in the community against doctors. It defies reason. In June this year the entire medical profession had risen as one across the nation seeking justice and security.
“Government of India is seized of legislating a Central Law against violence in healthcare institutions. Even such a heavy deterrence may not work in such an atmosphere of mob violence,” the statement said. (With inputs from PTI)