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Andhra HC orders CBI probe in Vizag doctor’s manhandling by cops
The court had taken into consideration a report submitted by a Visakhapatnam district judge stating that there were six injuries on Sudhakar’s body.
The Andhra Pradesh high court (HC) on Friday ordered an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged inhuman treatment meted out to a Dalit doctor Dr. K Sudhakar by a section of Visakhapatnam Police personnel on May 16.
The court, which took up the case suo motu (on its own), ordered that CBI register a criminal case against the police, who allegedly physically assaulted Sudhakar and tied his hands behind his back before bundling him into an auto-rickshaw to take him to the police station for creating nuisance in public and abusing the Andhra Pradesh government in a drunken state.
The court asked CBI to complete the investigation within eight weeks and submit a comprehensive report.
The court had taken into consideration a report submitted by a Visakhapatnam district judge stating that there were six injuries on Sudhakar’s body. It observed that there was no mention of the injuries in the report submitted by the police authorities.
Sudhakar, an anaesthetist, is undergoing treatment for acute and transient psychosis at a government-run hospital for mental health in Visakhapatnam.
The police have filed a case against Sudhakar under sections 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty) and 427 (mischief causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In April, Sudhakar, who works at a government-run hospital at Narsipatnam, was suspended for courting the media to complain against the state government for not providing enough personal protective equipment (PPE) kits to frontline workers battling the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) epidemic.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) authorities have taken a serious note of the police brutality on the doctor and have written to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy demanding action be taken against errant police personnel.
IMA president Dr. Rajan Sharma has assured that the doctor would be made to apologise for his abusive language.
Sudhakar’s mother Kaveri Bai expressed happiness over the HC judgement and hoped that justice would be meted out to his son. Main opposition Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) women’s wing president V Anita echoed the doctor’s mother.
