Mob fury at Masina

Late at night on June 24, 2008, "all hell broke loose” at the Masina Hospital, Byculla. Angry over the alleged molestation of two sisters, aged 15 and 22, who were receiving treatment for burns at the Hospital, a mob consisting mainly of relatives and friends of Dongri resident Mohammed Rafique, father of the girls, trashed the lobby of the Eric Kharas Burn Centre and badly beat up the Hospital’s chief executive officer (CEO), Firdaus Commisariat, reported Mid Day on June 25, 2008.

The girls, who had been brought to the Hospital two days earlier after sustaining injuries from firecrackers, alleged that drunken ward boys touched them inappropriately on the pretext of changing their bandages. Their father said that the ward boys "stripped them and touched their thighs.” Reportedly angered by the refusal of the management to reveal the names of their employees, the mob broke down the entrance doors to the Burn Centre, smashed windows and assaulted the CEO. Mid Day noted that Commisariat countered with, "If I had said that the ward boys were not guilty or that the girls were lying, there would have been reason for such behavior. We’re trying to cooperate in every way to find out what really happened.”

"The nurse was taking off my hospital gown for dressing my burns wounds, when this ward boy Ramesh Chauhan moved in and yanked off my gown. I wasn’t wearing underwear, but thankfully the blanket kept me covered. But Dr Balu Sahani insisted that I take off the blanket as he had to dress my wounds,” the younger sister informed Mid Day (June 26, 2008). Since the injuries were on the hands, calves and face, "why did they have to expose me and bandage my thigh?” she said tearfully. The older sister too claimed she had been inappropriately touched. Their mother complained to the Hospital authorities and later filed a complaint with the Byculla Police Station. Both Chauhan and Sahani were arrested, according to T. U. Godge, senior police inspector, Byculla Police Station, as mentioned in Mid Day.

The Hindustan Times reported on June 26, 2008 that after the 104-year-old Hospital’s CEO was assaulted and the police made their arrests, the Hospital staff went on strike to protest the attack. The Hospital virtually shut down, with only the ICU and premature delivery units functioning. Many patients had to be transferred to other hospitals.

However, managing trustee of Masina Hospital, Dr Aspi F. Golwalla had an entirely different story to tell, as per Mid Day’s June 26, 2008 edition: "We had discharged the patients on Tuesday, but the parents were unable to pay the Hospital fees. Our staff is innocent. I have no choice but to shut down our burn unit after the damage and the patients too have left the Hospital.”

The Hospital staff had demanded that the police nab the culprits and take "stern action against the family and the relatives” for the damage done to the Hospital.