The Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam Government to inform the court if any compensation has been paid to the medical professionals who were brutally assaulted by a mob in Udali Model Hospital-cum-COVID Care Centre, Hojai on June 1, 2021.
During a hearing in the suo moto case PIL(Suo Moto)/4/2021 and another linked case (PIL/33/2021) about the assault on medical professionals and other healthcare workers during the tiring times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Assam Government filed an affidavit indicating the steps being taken to protect the healthcare workers. The State Government pointed out that there is a specific scheme prepared by enacting an Act, namely, the Assam Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2011, which seeks to prevent violence against medicare persons and damage to property of medicare service institutions in the State of Assam.
The court took special note of the incident in Udali Model Hospital-cum-COVID Care Centre, Hojai on June 1, 2021, in which some doctors were brutally assaulted, sending shockwaves amongst the general public and healthcare workers. The State Government informed the court that all necessary steps have been taken to prevent such assault on doctors and it has also taken prompt action as far as the particular incident is concerned. In this incident, the investigation has been completed and charge-sheet has been filed within 29 days.
The Advocate General further informed the court that the State Government has been taking all necessary steps to assure the healthcare workers that “they are in the safe hands of the State Government”. In fact, if the trial is expedited and concluded within a time-bound period, it will send a clear message to the public that the government is serious about protecting the interest of the healthcare workers including the doctors.
A divisional bench of Justice N. Kotiswar Singh and Justice Malasri Nandi appreciated the steps taken by the State Government in this regard. The bench asked the government to accordingly apprise the court about the status of the trial in the next hearing.
The court, while acknowledging the steps taken by the State Government, said that perhaps those doctors who have been victims of assault should be suitably compensated in terms of the government notification issued on 01.02.2019, which provides for grant of certain amount of compensation to the victims of lynching, mob violence, witch-hunting, etc. The court directed the government to inform whether any compensation has been paid to the victim of the particular incident as per the aforesaid notification. The next hearing, in this case, will take place on January 18, 2022.
