JJ Hospital's dean Dr TP Lahane's anticipatory bail challenged in Bombay high court

In fresh legal trouble for Dr TP Lahane, dean of JJ Hospital, who is alleged to have made casteist remark against a temporary sweeper in the hospital, an application has been filed in the Bombay high court seeking the cancellation of his anticipatory bail. It's Naresh Waghela, who had filed the complaint against Dr Lahane, who has now approached the HC through advocate Rohan Nahar pleading that the dean's bail be cancelled.

It was on February 14 that the complaint was lodged first. Waghela accused Dr Lahane of verbally abusing him after the two got into an argument when Waghela asked another sweeper to stop working as all the temporary class-four workers in the hospital had gone on strike demanding their jobs be made permanent.

An FIR was lodged against Dr Lahane under section 3(1) and 10 of the Prevention of Atrocities Act and under the Indian Penal Code.

The sessions court, on February 27, granted anticipatory bail to the doctor on a cash surety of Rs 15,000.

Waghela has now challenged this saying the sessions court should not have gone into the merit of the case while deciding the anticipatory bail application. While deciding on an anticipatory bail, the judge should go through the FIR to see whether prima facie a case had been made out or not. If a case under the Prevention of Atrocities Act had been made out, then the applicant should not be granted bail, he contended.

The matter is likely to come up for hearing on March 21.

Dr Lahane has also filed a petition in the HC seeking quashing of the case against him. His petition is likely to come up for hearing on March 26.