Mumbai, Sep 9 The Bombay High Court on Wednesday came down heavily on the Palghar police over their "absolutely casual approach" in probing the case against Shiv Sena workers who assaulted medical staff and vandalised a private hospital in the district, saying it reflected their "inefficiencies".
A bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata said the police have not carried out any investigation at all in the "sensitive" case, which was "unacceptable".
The high court said the police have not learnt anything from the previous incident where doctors were assaulted at a civic-run hospital in Thane in July, in which Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre is an accused.
"Is one incident (Thane hospital) not enough for the police? Has the police not learnt any lesson from the Thane case?" the bench asked.
The court said if the Palghar police were not interested in probing the case then it would transfer it to the Mumbai police's crime branch.
The high court was informed by the Palghar Superintendent of Police Yatish Deshmukh that out of the ten persons named in the FIR, one person - Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) city chief Rahul Gharat - has been arrested and is in police custody.
The remaining nine accused are absconding, Deshmukh said.
The bench then questioned as to why prompt steps were not taken by the police to arrest the accused.
"Why are the nine absconding accused not traced out? There seems to be no investigation done after lodging of the FIR. It is because of your (police) laxity that the accused are absconding," the HC said.
The court further questioned as to why it should not draw an adverse inference against the police.
"This reflects on your inefficiencies. You didn't learn any lesson from the Thane case. This is unacceptable. This is a sensitive case where a hospital has been vandalised, staffers were assaulted and doctors were threatened. The police has taken an absolutely casual approach," the court said.
The court also expressed its displeasure with the manner in which the case diary has been maintained by the police and directed public prosecutor Shishir Hiray to speak with the Director General of Police on what action would be taken against the concerned officers.
Hiray informed the court later that the DGP would call for all records from the Palghar police and take appropriate action.
The bench then posted the matter for further hearing on Friday.
Between the night of September 5 and 6, several Sena workers allegedly barged in Relief hospital in Palghar where a few injured 'Govindas' who had participated in the Dahi Handi celebration on September 5 were admitted.
The workers claimed that the hospital was charging high fees and vandalised the property, threatened the doctors, assaulted staffers and forcibly took away the injured persons who were admitted in the ICU.
The bench was hearing a plea taken up suo motu (on its own) into the assault that occurred at a civic hospital in Thane in July, in which Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre is an accused, when senior counsel Ashok Mundargi informed it about a the Palghar incident.
The police have registered a first information report against 17 people, including Shiv Sena district chief Kundan Sankhe, city chief Rahul Gharat, the son of MLA Rajendra Gavit and deputy taluka chief Rohit Gavit, in connection with the Palghar incident.
Only Gharat has been arrested in the case, nine others are absconding. Seven others are unknown accused in the case.
