Delhi court: 4 get 6-month jail for assault on doctors

New Delhi : A Delhi court has convicted four persons for assaulting doctors and damaging a government hospital property after one of their relatives was declared brought dead by them, observing that such incidents caused doctors and other staff to proceed on strikes demanding secure work environment.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Singh Rajawat sentenced Bablu, Imran, Nuru and Rashid to six months in jail for the offences under section 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 427 (damage to public property by mischief) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

"The convicts by causing obstruction to the public servants in discharging their duty of attending to the patients in casualty have caused danger to the life of the patients who require immediate attention of the doctors and other staff in the casualty.

Moreover, the damaged to the defibrillator machine has not only caused to financial loss to the hospital but also resulted into the denial of use of said machine for treatment of the patients as defibrillator machine is a life saving device," the court said in a recent order.

According to the prosecution, in July 2007, one patient was brought to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, after being referred from Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial (BJRM) Hospital. The doctors at the LNJP hospital declared him dead on arrival.

Following this, the relatives along with 20 other persons started arguing with the two attending doctors, assaulted them and damaged the defibrillator machine. The duty constable was called along with security staff and the situation was brought under control. A case was registered on the complaint of the chief medical officer of the hospital.