We have had recent incidents of people assaulting public officials while discharging their duties. In the first highly publicised incident, a Shiv Sena MP beat up a relatively elderly official of Air India and by his own admission with a chappal 25 times. (That means he kept count? Or maybe it is a lucky number for him.) Where the man, irrespective of being a MP, should have been arrested and thrown into jail immediately after the incident, he was allowed to go on public television and further upbraid the national carrier with no sign of regret or apology. Why did Air India not take this action is not known? Because he was a MP? Cooling one’s heels in a jail for at least 12 hours would have drilled some sense in him, maybe prompting him to be more cautious in future. There is no question of denying him justice since he would be allowed to have recourse to it. This incident shows that the caste system or its more modern structure is imprinted on our brains since a MP is a high caste in our society today and assumed to have more powers and influence. If this had happened abroad then on matters of security the person would have been summarily sent to jail with no qualms whatsoever.
In the other scenario our officiating doctors in government hospitals were beaten up in multiple incidents in Maharashtra over the last ten days with one doctor likely to lose an eye because of the thrashing he received. Here again the police were lax in arresting the assaulters since a larger group was involved. But the fact remained that a public official was assaulted while performing his duty and the government should have provided the doctors protection. The doctors went on strike because of these incidents and they were supported by their compatriots in other cities like Delhi which has also seen similar incidents. The High Court in this matter in the first instance upbraided the doctors saying that if they were afraid to do their duty they should leave the jobs. Even the State CM came out with a similar statement that if the doctors do not report for duty then they will be summarily discharged. This is strange indeed since, the employer in this case the government, should have ensured security for the doctors to perform their duty and the judiciary should have given proper justice, the doctors are at the receiving end for protesting against a just cause. It is time therefore for our society to realise that things have changed and that we should deal with proper respect and sensitivity towards public officials particularly doctors and that the employers are by law responsible to provide an environment of safety of life and limb for their employees to work in. After the ultimatum given by both, the High Court and the CM, to the striking doctors to join duty by 25th March, we have had another incident on 28th at Thane where two doctors were again manhandled by the kin of patients. If doctors are not protected from agitated people then how can they do their noble duty of curing patients and saving lives.
