Seven days after doctors in Bengaluru started their protests, around thirty people belonging to the pro-Kannada outfit Kannada Raksha Vedike (KRV) were taken into police custody on Friday in connection with the probe into the attack on the PG student doctor at Bengaluru’s Victoria Hospital.
“No arrests have been made, we are just conducting preliminary investigations. Around thirty people have been brought into our custody and discussions are underway,” a police official from the VV Puram station said to TNM.
While no official decision has been announced with regards to the protests, discussions are being held and updates are expected shortly.
It all began one week ago on November 1 when a mob of around thirty people stormed into the outpatient clinic of the Minto Eye Hospital located inside the campus of Bengaluru’s Victoria Hospital. The mob, allegedly comprising of members of the pro-Kannada group Kannada Raksha Vedike, surrounded a female postgraduate student doctor who was on duty and began asking her about an earlier incident which took place in July. When she replied in English, the agitated group attacked her, asking why she was not speaking in Kannada. KRV members TNM spoke to earlier, however, had claimed that they were there to ‘seek compensation’ on behalf of those who had lost their vision after their cataract eye surgery went wrong.
Following the attack on the doctor, a complaint was lodged with the VV Puram Police by Dr HS Satish, the Dean of Bangalore Medical College (BMC), which is associated with Victoria Hospital.
The next day, November 2, doctors from Victoria Hospital and medical students of BMC began protesting outside the outpatient block of the hospital. Consultants were sparse in the clinics of the hospital as many took to protesting against the attack on the doctor. As the indefinite strike at the Bengaluru hospital continued, the Karnataka branch of the Indian Medical Association took cognisance of the issue and declared that a statewide bandh of non-emergency services would be in effect on Friday.