Sion Hospital Doctors Assault Case 2021: Sessions Court rejects discharge plea

Mumbai: The Sessions court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected the discharge plea of two brothers accused of assaulting doctors at Sion Hospital following the death of their father in 2021, stating there was sufficient material to frame charges against them.

According to news reports, the discharge plea of brothers Roshan and Rajesh Gupta was rejected by Additional Sessions Judge S B Dige.

The case dates back to an FIR lodged on June 26, 2021, based on a police complaint by a medical officer at a hospital in Mumbai’s Sion area.

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According to the prosecution, the father of Gupta brothers was admitted to the hospital’s emergency ward, where a medical officer was on duty at the time, but died during treatment. The accused duo allegedly confronted the medical staff, slapped him and tore his shirt after the death of their father. A second doctor was allegedly pushed when she attempted to intervene, the prosecution said, news agency PTI reported.

Defence lawyer Taufik Ansari argued that the applicants were at the hospital for the treatment of their father and did not have a motive to commit a crime.

The brothers were innocent, and their alleged unruly conduct could not be corroborated by statements of eyewitnesses, Ansari told the court during a hearing on the discharge petition.

The police, represented by additional public prosecutor Pankaj Chavhan, opposed the plea, asserting that sufficient material existed to show the applicants used criminal force to deter public servants from performing their duties.

In his conclusion, Judge Dige made a reference to Section 227 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which allows for discharge of an accused only when there is “not sufficient ground” for proceeding, reports PTI.

“On perusal of record… available material is sufficient to proceed against the accused for framing of charges,” the court ruled.

The judge ordered that charges against the duo be framed during the next hearing.

Discharge is a pre-trial stage that comes after a chargesheet has been filed in a case, but before charges are framed by the court against an accused. Under this legal remedy, an accused is entitled to be discharged from a case if the evidence provided to the court is not sufficient to prove the offence.

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