NRS row: Court grants bail to five accused despite strong police opposition

Kolkata: Five persons arrested for allegedly beating up the junior doctors of NRS Medical College and Hospital were granted bail on Monday, after almost 20 days. Meanwhile, the injured junior doctor Paribaha Mukhopadhyay was discharged after his recovery from the private hospital where he had undergone a surgery last month.

On Monday, the Magistrate of Sealdah Court granted the five persons bail due to lack of evidence. It may be mentioned here that Akash Vijayvargiya, son of BJP's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and MLA in Madhya Pradesh, who was arrested for beating up a municipal official in Indore, got bail within three days of his arrest.

According to sources, on Monday the public prosecutor appealed for further police custody of the five accused persons for investigation purpose. But the defense counsel appealed for their bail as police have failed to establish the allegations and charges made against the accused, identified as Md Sahanawaz, Adil Hadun, Adil Shaikh, Md Yusuf and Md Badal.

Following the hearing, the Magistrate of Sealdah Court stated that despite police custody being granted twice, they have failed to speed up the investigation. As no new point was established during the last phase of police remand, the court heard the defense counsel's plea and granted bail on personal bond of Rs 2,000 for each of the accused persons.

On the other hand, the first security review meeting of hospitals in the city will be held at Sasthya Bhavan on Tuesday. Apart from senior police officials, top level Health department officials will be present as well.

Recently Nevendera Singh, Deputy Commissioner (DC), Combat Force, who was given the charge of nodal officer to look after the security of the city hospitals, visited a few hospitals to check with the security system.

During his visit, it was found that the hospital security staff are not aware of what to do if any law and order situation develops. Also, collapsible gates and doors cannot be closed fast due to lack of proper maintenance.

Sources informed that on Tuesday's meeting, police officials may raise some points regarding the maintenance of the CCTV cameras, gates and doors and will also ask the Health department to increase the number of CCTV cameras in the hospitals.

Health Secretary Rajiva Sinha, Director of Medical Education (DME) Pradip Mitra and Director of Health Services (DHS) Ajay Chakraborty will be present in the meeting.