JJ Hospital dean Doctor T P Lahane acquitted in atrocities case

JJ HOSPITAL dean Dr T P Lahane was acquitted by a special court on Friday in a case for allegedly making a casteist remark about a staff member. In March, the complainant, Naresh Waghela, had submitted before the court that he wished to withdraw the complaint.

Lahane was booked under the special Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act following Waghela’s complaint in 2014. The allegations were that on February 14, 2014, when Waghela and other contract workers were on a strike seeking permanent jobs, Lahane had made casteist remarks against him.

However, three years later, Waghela told the court in an affidavit that he had filed the case in a “fit of rage”. He had claimed that the complaint was filed in a state of misunderstanding and stress. Lahane, through lawyer Swapna Kode, sought discharge from the case. But the court directed for the trial to continue and framed charges in July. After witnesses, including the complainant and another eyewitness, were declared hostile, the court examined the investigating officer and completed the trial.