A protest staged by junior doctors here on Wednesday against the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill – 2019, witnessed tense moments when DCP Harshavardhan Raju allegedly slapped a protester. The junior doctors were staging a dharna in front of Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences (NTR UHS) following a nation-wide call.
The DCP reportedly had an argument with the protesters. Later, he allegedly caught a medico by his collar and slapped him. Protesting the “high handedness” of the DCP, the junior doctors staged a rasta roko on the National Highway, following which traffic had come to a halt. Later, the police took the agitators into custody, bundled them into police vehicles, and shifted them to various police stations.
Accusing the police of manhandling them while staging a dharna peacefully, the junior doctors demanded action be taken against the officer. Commissioner of Police Ch. Dwaraka Tirumala Rao reportedly agreed to conduct an inquiry into the incident when members of the Junior Doctors’ Association met him. The Commissioner also agreed to release the 20 medicos in custody.
Mr. Tirumala Rao, however, said the junior doctors had no permission to stage a dharna outside the UHS and violated Section 30 the Police Act, which was in force.
Solidarity in Tirupati
Resenting the incident in Vijayawada, junior doctors in Tirupati staged a dharna at Alipiri, gateway to the Tirumala hills, in the afternoon. Traffic on the the busy Tirumala bypass road, SVRR Hospital Road and Cherlopalle bypass road came to a grinding halt for about three hours as about 1,000 junior doctors from S.V. Medical College, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, and SVRR Hospital squatted on the road at the Garuda Circle.
The protest organisers said they would chalk out an action plan for an indefinite strike.