New Delhi: In an unfortunate incident, a 73-year-old doctor in a tea garden in Assam’s Jorhat district died after being assaulted by garden workers on Saturday evening.
"The garden doctor, 73-year-old Dr Deben Dutta was assaulted following the death of one Somra Majhi who was undergoing treatment at the estate's hospital," a statement by Jorhat district Deputy Commissioner Roshni Aparanji Korati said.
Blaming Dutta for being absent from duty, the enraged workers locked him up in a room after he reached the hospital and proceeded to beat him. "Mindless and murderous assault perpetrated on the Medical Officer of Teok Tea Estate while he was on duty in the Estate Hospital," the Deputy Commissioner's statement read.
The tea estate’s welfare officer Jiban Kurmi was also roughed up after he tried to rescue the doctor.
Amalgamated Plantation limited, which owns the Teok Tea estate, in a lock-out notice said that the "unruly crowd of workers, non-workers and outsiders...became violent and started to throw stones" even after the police and CRPF personnel arrived at the scene. The doctor was then rushed to Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH), where he succumbed to his injuries.
The plantation owners in the notice said that the employees' wages will be withheld until the situation is resolved. Police have so far arrested 19 in the case after a magisterial enquiry was ordered. Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association (Assam) has called for a "24-hour withdrawal of medical services excluding emergency” on September 3 citing Dutta's death as the latest in a series of assaults on doctors serving in tea gardens.
(With PTI inputs)
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