Politicians who hit doctors should be taken into custody, not allowed to roam free: SC

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Monday expressed concern over growing incidents of doctors being beaten by the members of political parties in Maharashtra and directed the government to take such politicians immediately into custody.The apex court's observation came a day after Shiv Sena office-bearers allegedly assaulted doctors and other staff at a healthcare facility in Maharashtra's Palghar district.The incident reportedly took place early on Sunday after a commotion erupted in the corridors of Relief Hospital over the discharge of a person who was injured during the Dahi Handi festival.Palghar Police have registered a case against at least 17 people, including members of the Eknath Shinde-led faction.According to CCTV footage, one of them also slapped a receptionist and threatened a woman employee when they tried to intervene.According to the complaint lodged by a hospital employee, Shiv Sena district chief Kundan Sankhe, city chief Rahul Gharat and others had entered the hospital's emergency department and got into an argument with doctors. A receptionist who tried to intervene was seen being slapped in the CCTV footage. Some of the party members even barged into the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU).In a similar case, a Shiv Sena corporator was accused of assaulting doctors at a civic hospital in Kalyan. A case was registered against the accused, Ramesh Mhatre. Rohitashwa Ranjan is a digital journalist with The Times of India, where he decodes Indian politics as a carefully staged production with scripts, subtext and everything behind. His stories track elections, party dynamics and the things that often are buried beneath the headlines. When not parsing vote shares or alliances, he is usually reading between the lines, where the real story tends to reside.