As many as 24 people were on Wednesday arrested in connection with the brutal assault of a doctor in a Covid Care Centre in Assam's Hojai district.
An on duty doctor, Dr Seuj Kumar Senapati, was allegedly attacked by relatives of a deceased COVID-19 patient at a Covid care centre in Udali in Hojai district on Tuesday. A video clip of the doctor being attacked by the mob has gone viral on social media platforms.
Ensuring justice, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that a chargesheet will be filed at the earliest.
"24 culprits involved in this barbaric attack have been arrested and the chargesheet will be filed at the earliest. I am personally monitoring this investigation and I promise that justice will be served," the CM tweeted.
As per the updates by the chief minister, the culprits were identified as Md Kamaruddin, Md Jainal uddin, Rehanuddin, Saidul Alam, Rahim uddin, Rajul Islam, Tayebur Rahman, Sahil Islam, Rahimuddin, Abdul Kalam, Nurzul Islam, Abdul Gumi, Dilwar Hussain, Abdul Hussain, Anuwar, Nasirrudin, Alimuddin, Jamil Ahmad, Sarifuddin, Safiquddin, Matibur Rahman and Misba Begum.
On Tuesday, CM Sarma had condemned the attack on the doctor and instructed the Assam police to ensure that the culprits be brought to justice.
Meanwhile, condemning the incident, the Assam State Branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) demanded that all culprits be booked immediately and stringent punishment be given to the culprits. It also demanded that all the hospitals be provided with security personnel and cameras 24×7 to avoid such incidents in future.
“In all strongest terms the barbaric assault on a freshly passed out doctor Dr. Seuj Kumar Senapati at one of the Covid Care Centres in Hojai District. IMA and all the doctors are at a loss at this gruesome reward to a frontline worker in Covid duty. This type of incident demoralises our serving attitude. They are not only enemies to doctors but also the entire community. We request to arrest the miscreants in 12 hours and stringent punishment be given so that such incidents do not happen in future...If we don’t get a firm assurance on our above 3 demands from the government, then IMA will give a call for boycott of all non-emergency medical services including non-critical Covid duties on 3rd June 2021,” the IMA state branch stated.
