Sena corporator who thrashed doctors gets bail, ordered to stay in Goa resort
The Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre, who is accused of assaulting doctors at a municipal hospital in
The Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre, who is accused of assaulting doctors at a municipal hospital in Maharashtra's Thane district. As one of the conditions for the bail, the court directed him to stay at a resort in Goa until the trial in the case begins. He will be required to mark his attendance once every week before the local police during the court-mandated stay in Goa. The High Court also granted bail to the four other accused in the assault case, which had triggered a massive outrage last month. Read Full Story Like Mhatre, they, too, have been directed to temporarily shift outside Maharashtra. The order was passed by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad.
"In the rule of democracy, the principle is that the elected representatives is by the people and for the people. If an elected representative is accused of assaulting his own voters, such a situation is bound to dent the fabric of democracy," the bench observed. The court directed that the trial in the case be fast-tracked and completed in a time-bound manner. The bench also ordered the Maharashtra government to appoint a special public prosecutor within 10 days. NO CONTACT WITH WITNESSES: COURT The court also directed all the accused to refrain from contacting any of the witnesses or other persons related to the case. "None of these accused will try to contact any of the witnesses, relatives or friends, or any persons related to the case," it said.
The High Court also ordered police protection for the witnesses. The bench noted that Mhatre would be residing at the Nazvi resort in Goa. HIGH COURT ORDERS FAST-TRACK TRIAL The police, after completing their investigation and receiving reports from the State Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) within 12 working days, shall file a chargesheet within five days thereafter, the Bombay High Court said. "Prosecution be directed to refrain from unreasonable adjournments, and trial court to deal with such adjournments (sic)," it stated further. Mhatre, a corporator of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), was initially granted bail by a Thane court on July 15. Later, on July 18, the Bombay High Court took suo moto cognisance of the lower court's order and cancelled the bail, calling it "perverse." It said the lower court took the matter very lightly and didn't even take into account Mhatre's criminal antecedents.
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