The Bombay High Court on Monday granted interim relief to renowned ophthalmologist and dean of Sir J. J. Hospital, Padmashree Dr. T. P. Lahane, who is accused of making a derogatory and casteist remark about an on-contract sweeper.
The court asked Dr. Lahane to move to the lower court first and granted an interim relief till Thursday. "The protection has been granted for the limited purpose of approaching Sessions court," said Justice Sadhana Jadhav.
Senior counsel Ashok Mundargi who appeared for Dr. Lahane informed the court that the accused directly approached the high court as initially the FIR copy was not made available.
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According to the First Information Report (FIR) against Dr. Lahane, the complainant Naresh Waghela, 35, was part of a group of workers comprising of cleaners and sweepers, who worked on contract in the hospital.
On February 14, 2014 a group of workers was on strike demanding to hire them as permanent employees and Mr. Waghela was asking others to not work and join the strike.
As per the complaint, it was Dr. Lahane who was on his routine morning round in the hospital at that time allegedly used derogatory remarks against Mr. Waghela. The victim later filed the complaint and
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the matter was registered under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocity) Act.