KALYAN: A day after Bombay HC suo motu stayed the bail granted to him by a local court over the recent attack on doctors and nurses of a Dombivli civic hospital, Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre surrendered before police on Sunday.A Kalyan court remanded him in judicial custody till Aug 3.Meanwhile, police arrested Sadhana Karande, one of the alleged attackers and mother of the pregnant woman whose purported delayed treatment had triggered the violence. She was sent to police custody for a day.After the court proceedings, Mhatre’s advocate Ganesh Patil told reporters, “Bombay HC has only stayed the bail granted to my client. The matter is scheduled for further hearing on July 22, when we will place our arguments before HC.”While staying the bail given by the Kalyan judicial magistrate first class court and directing Mhatre to surrender before police by 5pm on Sunday, HC had said on Saturday that it was “disturbed” on reading the news about the alleged assault. It had said the magistrate “did not even notice” that Mhatre had not been interrogated after his first statement was recorded. “Even though he (Mhatre) was acquitted in 17 cases, the court ought to have considered the fact that he was named in 18 cases, some of which were of very serious and heinous nature,” the bench led by acting chief justice Ravindra Ghuge and justice Gautam Ankhad had said.HC had warned of coercive action, including attachment of his properties, if he failed to surrender.After being remanded into judicial custody, Mhatre was sent to Adharwadi jail in Kalyan.Meanwhile, deputy CM Eknath Shinde said in Pandharpur that neither he nor his party would ever condone any attack on the medical fraternity.Mahendra Baviskar, father of Dr Shrushti Baviskar who was among those assaulted at Dombivli’s Shastri Nagar Hospital, welcomed HC’s intervention.“The order has reaffirmed that the rule of law prevails in the country. After the accused was granted bail, there was widespread disappointment among doctors. Healthcare professionals should be able to work in an environment free of fear and that has always been our stand,” he said.On July 6, Priyanka Ugmale, 33, was admitted to the hospital in an advanced stage of pregnancy.Doctors found that the umbilical cord had looped itself twice around the foetus and decided to perform a C-section. But since the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) was full, the medical team began contacting other hospitals to secure a NICU bed before proceeding with the surgery.The family called Mhatre and his supporters, alleging undue delay in treatment, following which the staffers were attacked. The assault had triggered statewide protests by the medical fraternity, with doctors in Kalyan-Dombivli suspending non-emergency services for two days.The strike was called off only after Mhatre’s arrest and civic chief Abhinav Goel’s assurances of enhanced security.
