The Bombay High Court has sharply criticised the investigation into the alleged abuse and assault of medical staff at a private hospital in Palghar, calling the police inquiry “ridiculous” for failing to collect important evidence. The court directed the Special Inspector General of Police for the Konkan region to personally supervise the investigation and ordered a progress report to be submitted the following week.
A division bench comprising Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata said the police had done little beyond repeating witness statements in the scene-of-crime panchnama. The bench observed that the investigating officer had not collected any significant evidence or seized material from the hospital premises.
The case concerns an incident in which members of the Shiv Sena, identified in the report as belonging to the Shinde faction, allegedly abused and assaulted medical personnel at the private hospital. The court’s remarks were directed at the quality of the investigation and do not constitute a finding of guilt against the accused.
During the hearing, the judges questioned the failure to mention or seize a saline bottle allegedly connected to an incident involving a patient admitted to the intensive care unit. The court asked why the saline bottle was not referred to in the panchnama, whether it had been found and whether the room had been cleaned. These questions, the bench indicated, raised concerns about how the available evidence was being preserved and examined.
The court also noted that the prosecution claimed to have seized medical documents, but that an important part of the evidence appeared to be missing. It questioned how the prosecution would establish that an offence had occurred if the object or material connected to the alleged incident had not been seized.
The bench said that investigative failures of this nature frequently weaken the government’s case in court. Its observations underline the importance of timely scene documentation, preservation of physical evidence and the seizure of medical records in cases involving alleged violence inside healthcare facilities.
The doctors’ organisation representing the complainants had earlier alleged that the investigation was proceeding slowly because the accused were linked to a ruling political party. The organisation also told the court that three of the absconding accused had been denied anticipatory bail. It said the state government had not opposed those applications and that the complainants had themselves appeared before the magistrate’s court to oppose them.
The Bombay High Court has now placed responsibility for monitoring the investigation on the Konkan region’s Special Inspector General of Police. The senior officer is expected to oversee the inquiry, with the police directed to submit a report on its progress at the next hearing the following week.
