SASARAM: Government doctors in Bihar’s Rohtas district have told local Bihar Special Armed Police officers to take action against three personnel who allegedly thrashed a doctor for refusing to give them medical certificates for sick leave.
Dr DK Singh Mantu, secretary of the Bihar Health Service Association (BHSA), said on Thursday that the Rohtas civil surgeon Dr KN Tiwary convened an emergency meeting where it was decided to formally ask the local commandant of the Bihar Special Armed Police battalion – the force was earlier called Bihar Military Police – and the district police to take action against three personnel alleged to be involved in the incident.
Dr Tiwary is also the president of the district’s BHSA unit.
According to the doctors, Dr Vishnukant who was posted at the Debri sub-divisional hospital was approached on April 22 by three personnel of the armed police for medical certificates that would help them get marked on leave. It is alleged that when Dr Vishnukant refused to comply, the three men locked him in his office and thrashed him. The doctor was eventually rescued by hospital staffers and guards.
The BHSA communication to the armed police officers to ask their subordinates not to seek fake certificates
Dr DK Singh Mantu said the doctors also resolved not to issue medical certificates for leave to any BMP personnel in any government hospital of the district.
The three police personnel were identified by the doctors as Jitendra Kumar, Amrendra Kumar and Abhimanyu Kumar.
Doctors said the police was given a formal complaint by the hospital’s deputy superintendent soon after the assault but the police had not taken any action.
Rohtas superintendent of police (SP) Vineet Kumar said the doctor and the constable have given complaints against each other. “Police are inquiring into them and will take appropriate action,” the SP said, a reference to a complaint by constable Amrendra Kumar that the doctor demanded a ₹1,000 bribe for the certificate and that the doctor assaulted him when he was recording the incident on a mobile phone.
HT has reviewed the complaints filed by the doctor and the constable.
A second doctor, Dr Pankaj Kumar Tripathy, has alleged that constable Jitendra Kumar assaulted him also on October 1 last year for not issuing a fake medical certificate to him. Dr Tripathi said he had asked the constable to ask doctors at the BMP hospital on their campus for the certificate.
