Over 8 years later, court sentences man to 5 years rigorous imprisonment for assaulting doc at GMC

Panaji: More than eight years after a man assaulted a doctor at Goa Medical College (GMC) and Hospital, a court has sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for five years and fined him Rs 10,000.
The accused who went to GMC for treatment of snake bite, committed the offence after he was advised to get admitted in the hospital
The court sentenced Lawrence Dias under Section 333 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for voluntarily causing grievous hurt to a public servant in discharge of his duty, but acquitted him for the offence under Section 504 of IPC for intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace.
It was the case of the prosecution that the accused came to the casualty with a snake bite for which he was given treatment and advised admission. However, he was not willing to get admitted but was insisting on a discharge, and when they tried to convince him, he got furious and started talking in a loud tone to the chief medical officer on duty.
A senior resident of the neurosurgery department told him not to talk to a lady in that manner, due to which he got more arrogant and furious and manhandled him, and he suffered a grievous injury/fracture on his hand and trauma to his face.
The court stated that the evidence of both these witnesses was tested on the touchstone of cross examination and there was nothing on record to show that their evidence is untrustworthy.
The accused from Merces, on the other hand, contented that he was not given treatment for a long time and then went to meet the then sarpanch who advised him to approach Old Goa police station who then sent him to Agasaim police station. He further stated that he was given treatment at GMC only after midnight after the police took him there.
The court stated that there is reason to disbelieve the accused. Although the station diary of the Agasaim police station shows he had gone there past midnight, the court held that his evidence remains unchallenged and undisputed and “it appears that the accused went to the police station later only to cover up his act of having assaulted” the doctor on duty.