Shivpuri incident: Did docs use political links to get cop’s kin booked?

Police in Shivpuri district have registered a case against relatives of a deceased police constable on a complaint that they allegedly misbehaved with doctors of the district hospital. The relatives of the constable, however, alleged that the case was lodged under “political pressure”.

Police in Shivpuri district have registered a case against relatives of a deceased police constable on a complaint that they allegedly misbehaved with doctors of the district hospital. The relatives of the constable, however, alleged that the case was lodged under “political pressure”.

The incident happened on October 24 when constable Inderpal Singh, deployed at Kaniyadhana police station, suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital.

His sister-in-law Pooja Parihar alleged she was slapped by Dr Sunil Tomar when she urged him to show papers about treatment provided to Singh.

Parihar said: “My brother-in-law suffered a heart attack while he was on duty at the police station on October 24. He was rushed to the hospital.” She told HT that she and other family members had asked the doctor if Singh needs to be shifted to a hospital with better facilities in Gwalior.

“The doctors said he will be alright in 24 hours. They didn’t provide any proper treatment and had only put a bottle of glucose in the name of treatment.”

‘Docs only put a bottle of glucose in the name of treatment’

“On October 24 evening, my brother-in-law died. Before taking the body, I asked Dr Tomar to give me papers about the treatments given to him following which he slapped me,” Parihar said.

Parihar said they approached the police station to lodge a complaint but by then the hospital had registered a complaint against her family. “Till now, no action has been taken on our complaint but a false case has been registered against us allegedly due to pressure exerted by the hospital on police. The hospital has used political contacts for the same.”

A police officer told HT that doctors complained that they would be using political contacts to take action against police if they refuse to register a case. “We got a call from a politician from the ruling party to register a case against the deceased’s family,” said the officer.

Kotwali police station town inspector Sanjay Mishra said, “We lodged a case against the family of the deceased under relevant sections of Doctors Protection Act and IPC and investigations are on. We are also investigating the complaint of the family.”

Chief medical and health officer of Shivpuri Dr Vishnu Kant Khare said no doctor misbehaved with the family of the deceased. “We never said that the deceased would be fine after few hours. We just provided the appropriate treatment to him… unfortunately, he died after which his family members started creating ruckus. The doctors had to hide inside toilets,” said Khare. “The complaint was lodged without exerting any pressure on police.”