Agra: In an unprecedented incident, 25 junior doctors of Agra’s state-run prestigious S N Medical College were arrested for vandalizing a local pub, assaulting its staff, beating up policemen and tearing off their uniform when the pub’s staff refused to serve them liquor after closing hours. The incident occurred at the Ashoka pub and restaurant near Delhi Gate late on Saturday night.
Senior superintendent of police Amit Pathak said 15 junior doctors were still in jail while 10 others had been granted bail. Forty other unidentified medical staff of the college were also booked for vandalism and other charges.
Following the incident, doctors at the medical college went on a strike brining its emergency ward to a halt on Sunday. Later, senior administrative officers held a meeting with the college principal and other authorities, after which the strike was called off. However, junior doctors did not return to work.
Speaking with TOI, SSP Amit Pathak said, “We met the S N Medical College principal and senior staff members and asked them why no internal action was taken against junior doctors who were booked even on earlier occasions in various assault and vandalism cases. Who is protecting them and ignoring such behaviour even when MBBS doctors are acting as goons? On Saturday night, they assaulted the 82-year-old pub owner for mere liquor and injured our cops. Later, they shut down the hospital. It’s unacceptable and intolerable.”
According to police, the FIR was lodged based on a written complaint by the pub and restaurant manager, Shivaji Ohja, against the doctors and medical staff, who came to celebrate the birthday of their colleague, but went on a rampage and assaulted the pub staff, after they were denied liquor post-closing hours.
In his complaint, the pub owner said, “The doctors were unruly and adamant on their demand to be serve more liquor. When our staff informed them about the closing time, the heavily inebriated men started hurling abuses and misbehaved with the staff. The unruly men did not stop here. They called nearly 40 other medical staff of the college, who barged into the pub and vandalized it, creating a sense of terror among other guests who were having dinner with their family members in our restaurant.”
“We immediately dialled distress call to police. The doctors even manhandled the men in khakee who were video-recording the confrontation. The 82-year-old owner of the pub, Sunil Sarin, too suffered injuries when he attempted to pacify them,” Ojha said.
Mahesh Kumar Gautam, station house officer of Hariparvat police station, said, “Our three cops, including a sub-inspector, sustained injuries on head and limbs as the team tried to pacify the unruly doctors. Their uniform, too, was torn off. Additional police force was roped in to disperse the medical staff who had blocked the M G Road. Later, the doctors shut down medical services at S N Medical College’s emergency ward.”
The SHO said, “Taking prompt action, we identified all the accused doctors and arrested 25 of them who were involved in assault and vandalism. They were booked under IPC’s sections 147 (riots), 149 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 452 (house-trespass alter preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and section 7 of the Criminal Amendment Act.”
