18 November,2009 08:45 AM IST | | Alifiya Khan
Miffed by miscreants getting away with attacks on doctors, medical association asks commissioner to 'educate' his staff on ordinance that makes such attacks non-bailable
Irked by the spate of incidents where culprits whou00a0 attacked doctors managed to walk away scot-free, members of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) approached the Pune Police Commissioner Dr Satyapal Singh to 'educate' his department about laws.
The doctors allege that the miscreants walked away as the police had booked them under minor offences for which bail is easily available, instead of booking them under non-bailable offences, as a recently passed ordinance has directed.
Serious offence
"The Governor had passed an ordinance that made attacks on doctors a non-bailable offence. But when we inquired about the past five attacks, we realised this ordinance wasn't put into practice. Clearly, policemen had no clue about it. In fact, when we approached the commissioner even he didn't know that this was valid. He thought the ordinance had run out of its time," said a senior member of IMA.
In February this year, Governor S C Jamir had passed the Maharashtra Medical Services Persons and Medical Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damages or Loss of Property) ordinance, where offenders attacking doctors would have to pay Rs 50,000 or face imprisonment for three years, or both, and pay double in compensation for the damage done.
The doctors, who had given nearly 60 copies of the ordinance to the commissioner, are confident that things would change now.
"We are hopeful, now that theu00a0 police officers finally know about this ordinance, the action taken against offenders would be more serious. We agitated and fought to get this ordinance passed. If police don't implement it, our struggle is useless," said Dr Devendra Shirole, former president of IMA, who met police chief Satyapal Singh.
Despite repeated attempts, Singh could not be contacted for his comment.
Technical lapses
Though it has been over eight months since the ordinance was passed, it is yet to be converted into a Bill. The last time it was supposed to be put forward in the legislative council, the council was adjourned. Currently, the Governor has extended the tenure of the ordinance (usually it is valid for six months) and the ordinance is expected to get converted into a Bill next session.
Doctors say that this formality is also what has led to ignorance about the ordinance.
"Since it hasn't been accepted formally in the Assembly and published, most police officers don't know about this provision," said Shirole.u00a0
