By IANS
Hyderabad : Acting on a court order, police Saturday registered an attempt to murder case against a Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislator for allegedly assaulting doctors at a government-run hospital here while the indefinite strike by the doctors entered the seventh day.
The case was registered against Afsar Khan and 29 others at Nampally police station. They were also booked under section 354 (assault or use criminal force against women to outrage their modesty), 448 (house trespass) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult a woman’s modesty) of the Indian Penal Code.
However, no one was arrested. Deputy Commissioner of Police, central zone, Sheikh Mohammed Iqbal, told news persons that investigations were on and they would submit a report to the court.
The police officer had earlier stated that there was no prima facie evidence against the legislator to warrant an attempt to murder case.
On a petition by a junior doctor of Niloufer Children’s Hospital, a metropolitan magistrate Friday directed the police to register a case of attempt to murder against Khan and the others.
N. Suresh Babu, the petitioner, alleged that the legislator and his supporters attacked the doctors and misbehaved with the women. He alleged that the MLA also threatened to set the doctors ablaze after pouring petrol on them.
Meanwhile, the MIM has strongly defended Khan. The party’s floor leader in the assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi blamed the doctors for the situation and the death of 29 children at the hospital.
Claiming that there was no circumstantial evidence against Khan, Owaisi said a false case of attempt to murder was being registered.
The strike by the junior doctors continued Saturday despite a warning by the high court, which on Friday asked them to call off their strike and resume duties or warned it would recommend cancellation of their registration.
A division bench headed by acting Chief Justice Bilal Nazki said the doctors’ strike was unjustified as it resulted in loss of several lives. Agreeing that the attack on the doctors by the MIM was also improper, the bench told the doctors to approach it for justice.
The doctors have decided to continue their strike till all their demands are met. They are demanding arrest of the legislator, his disqualification from the assembly and a legislation to provide protection to doctors at all hospitals.
Expressing serious concern over the strike, the State Human Rights Commission continued its hearing for the second day Saturday on the matter. Some junior doctors appeared before the commission to give their account of Sunday’s incident.
Afsar Khan once again stayed away on the ground that he was yet to receive notice from the commission.
The legislator, who represents Karwan constituency in the state capital and was also involved in the attack on controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen here in August, had allegedly assaulted doctors during an argument over their alleged negligence in treating the daughter of an MIM worker on Sunday.
Khan was arrested Sunday on charges of assaulting the doctors but released the same day. The doctors began a flash strike the same evening, affecting the health services at the hospital and allegedly leading to the death of 28 children. The hospital authorities claim that the deaths were ‘normal’ and not a result of the strike.
Senior doctors continue to provide services at Niloufer, the biggest government-run hospital in Andhra Pradesh.