KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 11
Nepal Police today suspended Head Constable Shambhu Jung Gurung who thrashed orthopaedic surgeon Janith Singh yesterday while clearing the road outside National Trauma Centre for the president's carcade to pass.
Singh was returning home after performing a surgery at NTC when police personnel deployed outside the hospital asked him not to use the road or stand too close to it. President Bidhya Devi Bhandari was to return to Sheetal Niwas from the Parliament after addressing a joint session of both Houses. Police had cleared the stretch from Baneshwor to Sheetal Niwas in Maharajgunj. But, as per Singh's peers, he tried to persuade the police to let him stand by the roadside so that he could leave as soon as the carcade passed by.
"Singh showed his identity card, but one of the cops snatched his card and hit him with baton," said Lochan Karki, chairman of the Nepal Medical Association, the umbrella organisation of Nepal's medical doctors and dentists. Another doctor, Jafir Aalam, who rushed to save Singh, was also hit, alleged Karki.
Soon after the incident, doctors gathered outside the hospital to protest the incident. They asked police personnel not to stand outside the hospital. This led to a scuffle between police and doctors. Multiple videos on social media taken during the scuffle showed police using batons and shoving the protesting doctors. Fortunately, no one suffered serious injuries in the melee.
However, videos of the clash sparked outrage among people from various walks of life. Reacting to that, police today suspended a head constable involved in the clash.
"Shambhu Jung Gurung, the cop who hit the injured doctor and mishandled the situation, has been suspended for breaching his responsibility," said Nepal Police Spokesperson Deputy Inspector General Poshraj Pokharel. DIG Pokharel said Gurung had admitted to hitting the doctor with his baton once in the head, but the victim and his colleagues have alleged that the police had hit Singh several times.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 11, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
