The Bombay High Court on Wednesday warned it would transfer the investigation into an attack on a Palghar private hospital to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, reprimanding district authorities for failing to trace nine absconding suspects and taking an unacceptably casual approach to the case.
A division bench comprising Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata expressed sharp dissatisfaction with the Palghar police, observing that investigators had failed to carry out any meaningful inquiry following the registration of a First Information Report.
Nine Suspects Evading Arrest After Hospital Vandalism
The rebuke came after Palghar Superintendent of Police Yatish Deshmukh apprised the bench that only one individual—Shiv Sena city unit chief Rahul Gharat—had been arrested out of the ten people named in the FIR. The remaining nine individuals continue to evade arrest.
Questioning the lack of urgency, the judges held police negligence responsible for the suspects remaining at large. The bench observed that the lack of post-FIR investigation reflected administrative inefficiencies, warning that the court was prepared to draw an adverse inference against the force if the delay continued. The court noted that because medical workers were attacked and healthcare premises were ransacked, the matter demanded immediate, serious attention rather than an indifferent administrative response.
Dispute Over Medical Charges Led to Mob Action
The violence occurred during the overnight hours of September 5 and 6 at Relief Hospital in Palghar. A group of Shiv Sena workers entered the premises where injured participants from the September 5 Dahi Handi celebrations had been admitted for medical treatment.
Citing grievances over the treatment fees charged by the facility, the group ransacked the hospital premises. The intruders issued threats to medical practitioners, assaulted on-duty hospital staff, and forcibly removed patients who were receiving treatment in the intensive care unit.
Parallels Drawn to Previous Thane Hospital Assault
The court also drew comparisons to a separate incident in July, where medical personnel were assaulted at a municipal hospital in Thane district. Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre was named as an accused in that matter.
Addressing the police’s handling of the Palghar case, the bench asked whether law enforcement had failed to learn necessary lessons from the earlier Thane assault.
The developments arose while the high court was conducting a suo motu hearing initiated in response to the July incident in Thane. Senior counsel Ashok Mundargi brought the Palghar hospital attack to the bench’s attention during the proceedings.
Following the initial exchange, the high court scheduled the matter for a further hearing on Wednesday evening.
