Vijayawada: Opposing the police excesses during their protest against the NMC Bill, the junior doctors are planning to stage a hunger strike. On Wednesday, they submitted a written complaint to DGP Gowtham D. Sawang alleging that DCP A. Harshavardhan Raju caught one of them, M. Kalyan, by the collar and manhandled him while shifting the protesters to different police stations from the national highway near the Dr NTR University of Health Sciences where they were staging a protest demonstration.
The junior doctors denounced the harsh behaviour of the police when they were staging a peaceful protest.
Responding to the complaint by the junior doctors, city police commissioner Ch. Dwaraka Tirumala Rao promised of suitable action against the DCP after an inquiry. The police said they were forced to remove the protesters from the national highway as the latter had not sought any permission to stage the protest while Section 30 of the Police Act was in force.
According to reports, DGP Gautam Sawang became serious over DCP Harshavardhan for holding a junior doctor by the collar and asked him to submit a full report on the incident.
The junior doctors and medicos of Siddhartha Medical College formed a human chain on the national highway and blocked the traffic for more than an hour following which the police entered the scene and asked the doctors to withdraw their protest. When the protesters remained relentless, the police swung into action and took the protesters into custody.
More than 50 junior doctors and medicos were taken into custody and shifted to police stations at Bhavanipuram, I Town and Satyanarayanapuram. The protesters alleged that the police acted ruthlessly even with the women junior doctors and medicos while shifting them to the police stations.
For the last five days, the junior doctors and medicos had been staging a relay hunger strike on the college campus and this morning, they staged a protest on the national highway.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, one of the junior doctors said the police had been very harsh with them. “We were dealt like rowdy-sheeters and anti-social elements. Even the girl students were handled in a harsh manner,” he said.
He demanded that the DCP should apologise to the junior doctors and medicos unconditionally for the harsh behaviour. He also demanded that the police have to leave their campus.
