SC Backs Bombay HC Action in Thane Hospital Assault Case Involving KDMC Corporator

The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that the Bombay High Court was fully justified in taking suo motu cognisance and staying the bail earlier granted to Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre, who is accused of assaulting doctors at a municipal hospital in Thane district in July.

A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Augustine George Masih, and Sandeep Mehta also remarked that individuals who attack doctors do not deserve bail. The observations were made during the hearing of petitions, including one filed by Mhatre challenging conditions imposed by the High Court while granting him bail.

Mhatre, a corporator in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), had moved the apex court after the Bombay High Court intervened in the matter. On July 18, the High Court took suo motu cognisance of the incident, stayed the bail granted to him by a lower trial court, and directed him to surrender before the police.

Subsequently, on August 7, the High Court granted bail to Mhatre while ordering that the trial be fast-tracked and completed in a time-bound manner. The High Court also granted bail to three other accused in connection with the alleged assault, which had triggered widespread outrage.

During Tuesday's hearing in the Supreme Court, counsel representing the petitioners argued that the High Court's July 18 order staying the bail was erroneous, but the apex court bench affirmed the High Court's intervention in the case.