Mumbai stampede: Case filed against Sena members for attempted attack on KEM Hospital doctor

Nilesh Ramesh Dhumal of Shiv Sena was carrying a pen to write with on Pathak’s forehead. (Express photo by Tabassum Barnagarwala)

Members of the Shiv Sena attempted to attack the forensic head of King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, Dr Haris Pathak in Mumbai on Saturday. Sena members were reacting to the hospital’s decision to identify the deceased victims of the Elphinstone Road station stampede by writing numbers on their foreheads. One of the attackers, identified as Nilesh Ramesh Dhumal, carried a pen saying he wanted to write on Pathak’s forehead.

“We have been pained that the doctors decided to write numbers for identification on the forehead of our brothers and sisters who died. It is disrespectful of the hospital,” Dhumal said. The members of the party said they were from Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune. Another member was identified as Yuvaraj Dhakale.

Pathak said hundreds of people streamed into the hospital, where the bodies were brought, trying to look for their kin. “It would have been a big mental trauma to make all relatives see all 22 dead bodies to identify their missing persons. It would have become chaotic and a hectic exercise. Hence we took the photographs of the faces of all dead bodies, numbered them and displayed it to the relatives on a laptop screen,” Pathak said.

“Subsequently, the photographs were also displayed on a flex at the hospital, to further expedite the process of identification and we could identify 19 dead bodies within three hours and started the process of punchanama,” Pathak added.

A case was registered against the Sena members in Bhoiwada police station under sections 143, 144, 149 34 and 343.

Shiv sena comes to assault Dr Harish Pathak at KEM hospital @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/cWdYsCS7yK

— Tabassum (@tabassum_b) September 30, 2017

Pathak said the numbers were erased after the autopsy and before the bodies were handed to their relatives. Adding that the method was adopted by the hospital for the “sole intention purpose of speedy, honourable and smooth identification”, he said it would be unwise and unjustified to criticise it.

Following the incident, staffers threatened to shut services in the hospital. Manoj Yadhav, a security personnel at the hospital, said, “I saw Shiv Sena enter and attack.”

At least 23 people were killed and over 39 injured in a stampede on a foot overbridge on Elphinstone Road on Friday. Get live updates here.

(With inputs from the Mumbai Bureau)