The driver of Jorhat deputy commissioner Narayan Konwar was arrested today after he manhandled an intern at the Jorhat Medical College and Hospital.
The unsavoury incident occurred when the deputy commissioner accompanied his niece who was bleeding from the nose to the hospital early in in the morning today. In the absence of a doctor at the hospital, Arita Gupta, the intern on duty reportedly asked Konwar to get a ticket.
Konwar, who was not accompanied by his PSO, asked the intern to begin treatment and said that he would procure the ticket.
The intern reportedly ignored Konwar’s request at which the driver, Debashis Bora, intervened and told the intern that he was addressing the deputy commissioner of Jorhat, and gave him a push in the neck.
Konwar immediately asked the driver to apologize and the matter was resolved with the intern and the driver shaking hands. Konwar said that he had not gone to the hospital with his niece as a deputy commissioner but as a common man and the intern had spoken to him very rudely and shown indifference to his request.
He also said that could not support the actions of the driver and had berated him and asked him to apologize, which he did. The matter took a turn for the worse when later in the day all the interns abstained from work and staged a sit in demonstration demanding the arrest of the driver.
They further submitted a memorandum demanding the driver’s arrest within 12 hours and security to the Principal of JMCH. On hearing about the strike, the deputy commissioner again went to the hospital to meet the interns and resolve the issue.
His car was blocked by the striking interns and he was asked to apologize. The intern later filed a complaint at the Jorhat police station and the driver who was employed on a contractual basis was arrested. A case under sections 323 and 353 (non bailable) IPC has been registered against him.
It may be mentioned that a few days ago, Konwar had paid a surprise visit to the hospital and found several administrative and other malpractices and had forwarded a report in this connection to Dispur.