Govt Doctor's suicide: FIR against Mysuru Zilla Panchayat CEO; doctors go on strike
Bengaluru: An FIR has been registered against the CEO of Mysore Zilla Panchayat for allegedly abetting the suicide of a government doctor on COVID-19 duty in Mysuru district, even as doctors in that city began a strike on Saturday, demanding action against those responsible for it.
Police said an FIR has been registered against Prashant Kumar Mishra under Section 306 of the IPC, relating to the death by suicide of Nanjangud Taluk Health Officer Dr S R Nagendra on the night of August 20.
They said the case was registered on a complaint from Dr Nagendra's father Ramakrishna that the CEO had set additional targets for his son, who had been doing extra COVID-19 related work since January, and threatened to book him under the National Disaster Management Act if he did not meet it.
Nagendra had also approached his higher-ups to supply essential materials, but to no avail, his father said. He alleged that due to this stress brought on by the CEO, his son committed suicide on the intervening of August 19 and August 20 by hanging himself.
In Mysuru, government doctors began a sit in demonstration on Saturday, demanding stringent action against those responsible for Nagendra's death.
Taking note of their protest, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar appealed to them to go back to work in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Everybody has the right to protest in a democracy, but do not put the patients in trouble by protesting during the coronavirus time. Please proceed to live up to peoples belief of "Vaidyo Narayano Harihi (Doctors are God)," Sudhakar tweeted.
He pointed out that the state government has already ordered an inquiry into the death of the doctor and such protests would do no good.
The Indian Medical Association too expressed its anger over the doctor's death. In a letter to the Chief Minister, the IMA national president Dr Rajan Sharma and secretary general Dr R V Asokan said the doctors in Karnataka are extremely disturbed over the incident, "which is only the tip of the iceberg."
"Due to the constraints of the epidemic, IMA has channelised the anger of the medical profession into two days of black badge protest and a night of candlelight vigil, they said. They said the doctors' "soft approach" of protest was entirely consistent with the dignity of the profession and the burden of national duty.
"By no stretch of imagination should it be construed as a weakness. It should be appreciated that the medical profession is in charge of the entire situation, be it in the Government sector or the private sector," they stated.
Police had said on August 20 that Dr Nagendra was found hanging at his quarters in Alanahalli where he had been staying alone.
Nagendra's family was residing in another area in Mysuru district and he chose to stay alone out of fear of contracting the virus and spreading it, they had said.
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EC dismisses scope for wrongdoing at strongrooms; prohibitory orders around Kolkata counting centres
Kolkata (PTI): A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spent hours at the EVM strongroom of her Bhabanipur constituency alleging possibilities of malpractices, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Friday asserted there is no scope for wrongdoing at the counting centres.
Following tensions around two counting centres in Kolkata late on Thursday, police clamped prohibitory orders on gatherings outside all seven strongrooms in the city.
Stating that round-the-clock CCTV monitoring of strongrooms was in place, Agarwal dismissed the allegations as "baseless".
TMC spokesperson and Beleghata constituency candidate Kunal Ghosh said that party workers and poll aspirants were keeping a strict vigil at the counting centres, where the EVMs are stored in strongrooms, upon directions of party supremo Mamata Banerjee.
"There is no scope for any wrongdoing given the arrangements made to secure the EVMs. The Centres have been kept under thorough CCTV coverage and their live-streamed footage can be seen from outside," Agarwal told reporters.
"One should have reason and evidence for making allegations," he said, maintaining that there were no grounds for levelling charges of EVM tampering or pre-counting malpractice.
Two counting centres in Kolkata witnessed high drama late on Thursday evening after TMC leaders alleged a lack of transparency and possible malpractice at the strongrooms housing sealed EVMs of the assembly polls, which concluded on April 29.
Mamata Banerjee herself landed up at the Sakhawat Memorial School counting centre and stayed put there for about four hours. She emerged from the premises past midnight and warned against any attempts to tamper with the counting process, demanding greater transparency.
TMC leaders and candidates Sashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh held a sit-in outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra counting centre on Thursday evening, alleging unauthorised activities inside the strongroom amid the absence of TMC agents.
Matters came to a head after a large number of supporters from both TMC and BJP camps gathered outside the venue, shouting slogans till they were dispersed by security forces.
The EC, however, dismissed the claim, clarifying that poll officials were engaged in the task of segregating postal ballots as per due process and the strongrooms remained secure, asserting all political parties for the mandatory segregation activity were duly notified.
On Friday, Kolkata Police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS around all seven designated strong rooms in the city.
As per the order issued by Police Commissioner Ajay Nand, the restrictions prohibited the assembly of five or more persons within a 200-metre radius of each strongroom, along with a ban on processions, demonstrations, and carrying of weapons or explosive materials.
The measure, which aims to prevent any breach of peace, violence, or disturbance during the storage of ballot papers and polled EVMs, will remain in force until the commencement of counting on May 4.
Besides the two counting centres in question, the prohibitory orders were also clamped around the Hastings House complex, APC Polytechnic College, St. Thomas Boys' High School, Ballygunge Government High School and the David Hare Training College counting premises.
A senior police officer said enhanced security arrangements have been made at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra, the counting centre for several assembly seats in north and east Kolkata housing EVM strong rooms.
"Additional CAPFs and armed police forces have also been deployed under the supervision of an additional commissioner and a deputy commissioner of police," Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Kolkata, Rupesh Kumar, told reporters after visiting the area.
Expressing apprehension that unauthorised movements might occur when a section of postal ballots is brought in the evening, Kunal Ghosh said on Friday morning that the party's polling agents and candidates have been alerted about the matter.
Minister Shashi Panja, who also arrived at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in the morning, maintained that "transparency" should be ensured for all strongroom activities.
Ghosh told reporters on Friday that though they had seen some movement in a strongroom that allegedly stored postal ballots, there was no such movement on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Banerjee's challenger at Bhabanipur and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari took a dig at the chief minister for her late-night visit to the counting centre.
"I want to reassure the people of Bhabanipur and of West Bengal that the TMC candidate and outgoing chief minister was prevented from taking any additional advantage. Despite her best intentions to the contrary, she wasn't allowed to act in violation of rules," Adhikari wrote on social media platforms, posting a picture of Banerjee sitting at what appeared to be an area outside the counting centre strong room.
"Till such time she was present there, my election agent, advocate Surjyanil Das personally positioned himself at the spot keeping a tight watch on her so that she isn't able to take recourse to improper means," he added.
Security forces kept a strict vigil in and around counting centres and strongrooms in Kolkata and other districts where EVM machines used in the state assembly elections are stored, an official said.
Sakhawat Memorial School in south Kolkata's Bhabanipur, which saw high drama till the early hours of Friday with the chief minister spending several hours at the counting centre, wore a peaceful look in the morning with security personnel guarding the area.
