Bail For Corporator Who Assaulted Doctor. Stay At Goa Resort Is One Condition

Ramesh Mhatre, the Shiv Sena corporator who assaulted a woman doctor in Maharashtra's Dombivli last month, will now chill at a Goa resort. Thanks to the Bombay High Court.

Believe it or not, that's the bail condition.

The Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to corporator Ramesh Mhatre and other accused in the doctors' assault case.

The court also ordered Mhatre to stay away from Maharashtra.

But where did they ask him to live pending trial in the case?

Nazri Resort & Lawns - a popular 4-star property located near Tito's Lane in Baga-Calangute, North Goa.

That is the "strict" bail condition for the corporator who, on July 6, barged into a hospital with his men and was caught on camera assaulting a woman doctor and other staff after an argument over a patient's treatment.

The resort in Goa where Ramesh Mhatre has been instructed to stay

Mhatre was arrested after public outrage on July 8 and was promptly granted bail by a lower court. That bail was later cancelled by the Bombay High Court and he surrendered on July 19. He was then sent to judicial custody by the court.

20 days later, Mhatre has been granted bail by the same High Court and has been asked to stay at a Goa resort and report to the local police there three days a week. Court has also instructed the accused not to try and influence the witnesses in the case. They have also been directed to surrender their passports.

On the night of July 6, Mhatre struck terror in the hearts of doctors and nursing staff at the Shastri Nagar Hospital, run by the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) in Dombivli.

Video footage from the hospital, which circulated widely on social media, showed Mhatre approaching a woman doctor from behind as she held a mobile phone. He struck her with force, causing the phone to fall. He and his supporters then turned on other staff members.

Images after the incident showed hospital workers in distress.

Later, speaking to NDTV, Mhatre remained unapologetic and defiant about his act.

"I slapped her (female doctor's) phone as she was not listening to us. I only tried to get her off the phone," Mhatre told NDTV.

"Our action saved the life of a woman and her child. We don't care about anything else," he said. In a 26-minute interview with NDTV, he maintained that he had not attacked the doctor, described her as arrogant, and said he would not apologise. He suggested that if the doctors apologised for their behaviour, he would express regret.

The doctors and nursing staff protested at the hospital after the assault and demanded Mhatre's disqualification as a corporator.

Meanwhile, the two doctors, including the woman doctor who was assaulted, resigned from their jobs and left Thane, saying they feared for their safety.