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Police on Monday arrested Shiv Sena city chief Rahul Gharat in connection with a ruckus allegedly created by party office-bearers at a private hospital in Palghar. A court remanded him in police custody for one day. Most of the other suspected accused in the case were released.

Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) office-bearers and workers allegedly created a disturbance at a private hospital in Palghar while seeking the discharge of Govinda participants who had been injured during a Dahi Handi celebration and were receiving treatment there. Following allegations that hospital staff had also been assaulted, the hospital's medical staff registered a complaint at Palghar police station on Sunday.

Cases were registered individually against 10 office-bearers, including Shiv Sena district chief Kundan Sankhe, city chief Rahul Gharat and MLA Rohit Gavit, as well as seven unidentified people. The suspects decided to appear voluntarily at the police station to cooperate with the investigation.

Shiv Sena office-bearers also demanded action against the medical officers under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, alleging that the hospital had unnecessarily detained some Govinda participants. After arguments with police, the accused left the police station late on Sunday night, saying they would decide on their course of action.

On Monday morning, most of the suspected accused appeared at the police station in the presence of Shiv Sena representatives and local office-bearers. In the presence of the Palghar MLA, police allowed the workers and suspects to leave. They were told to return the following morning and attend the inquiry one at a time.

Meanwhile, after Rahul Gharat was produced before the court, Civil Judge (Junior Division) S. R. Bandel ordered one day's police custody.

The Palghar Doctors Association approached the High Court on Monday over an incident involving verbal abuse and a ruckus at a hospital in Palghar city, bringing the episode to the court's attention. The association's petition was likely to be heard on Tuesday.

The petition was presented on behalf of the Palghar Doctors Association before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad.

Advocate Niranjan Mundargi, appearing for the association, told the court that the incident involving the doctors was unfortunate. Doctors had first been abused and threatened, and pressure was now allegedly being put on local police to register a case against them under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The court took cognisance of the petition and scheduled a hearing for Tuesday. However, because Acting Chief Justice Ghuge had been appointed Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, the petition would be heard by a bench of Justice Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata.

Rahul Gharat, the main accused in a case involving alleged verbal abuse and assault of hospital staff while attempting to secure the discharge of Govinda participants admitted after a Dahi Handi celebration, appeared at Palghar police station. Police arrested him and produced him before the court, which remanded him in police custody for one day.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gharat, accused of attacking doctors, was suspended from Shiv Sena.

CCTV footage recorded Shiv Sena district chief Kundan Sankhe allegedly threatening to demolish Relief Hospital and verbally abusing a female medical officer.

The complaint stated that Palghar city chief Rahul Gharat slapped a hospital employee. It further alleged that he then entered the intensive care unit and urged that patients be forcibly discharged from the hospital.

New Delhi: Taking note of another instance of a Shiv Sena politician in Maharashtra assaulting doctors, Supreme Court on Monday said the situation in the state had become worse and favoured strict action against politicians to send a message that such behaviour against a medical practitioner would not be tolerated.

Favouring zero tolerance against violence against medical practitioners, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said people indulging in violence against doctors should be arrested without any delay. ‘They deserve to be detained and they do not deserve to roam around,’ it said while referring to the recent incident of Shiv Sena workers assaulting doctors and hospital staff in Palghar.

The court passed the observations while hearing the plea of Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Surkya Mhatre who is accused of assaulting doctors at Dombivli in July. He had moved SC against stringent conditions imposed by the Bombay high court on him while granting bail to him last month. Sensing the mood of the court, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for him, sought to withdraw the petition.

SC allowed his plea for withdrawal but before that it expressed concern over the growing number of incidents of doctors being attacked by politicians and said it cannot be justified. Rohatgi submitted that the group of people responsible for the assault in Palghar was different. But the bench pointed out that they belonged to the same party.