17-year-old leptospirosis patient dies; 5 cops hurt as mob ransacks Mumbai’s Sion hospital
Violence fuelled by death of Sachin Jasvar, who was picked up for questioning on July 13 in a case of mobile theft and had complained about getting beaten up.
Mumbai:
The Sion police have registered a case against 100 people for rioting and deterring public servants from performing their duties after an angry mob started pelting stone on government officials including policemen in front of the police station on Saturday night.
The incident that took place at around 10.40pm and left two police personnel injured along with three Maharashtra Security Force (MSF) officials who were posted at the Sion hospital.
The violence was fuelled because of the death of a 17-year-old Sachin Ravindra Jasvar, at Sion hospital, who was picked up for questioning by Dharavi police on July 13 for an alleged case of mobile theft. Sachin was then released after questioning the same day. After going back, he had allegedly complained to his parents about getting beaten up by the police officers.
Doctors from the hospital said that the next day, on July 14, Jasvar was rushed to the hospital with complaints of diarrhoea and vomiting. “The family informed us about the police beating up the teenager but there were no external injuries on his body. After multiple tests, he was diagnosed with leptospirosis and was put on ventilator. He died on Saturday night during the course of his treatment,” said a senior doctor from the hospital.
The family of the 17-year-old, however, continued to claim that he died due to custodial torture. Citing the allegations, his body was sent to JJ Hospital to ascertain if internal injuries played a part in his death.
Dr Rajesh Dhere, head of forensic department at Sion Hospital said that there were no signs of external injuries on his body. “He was on treatment for leptospirosis and citing family’s allegations, we conducted an inspection of the body but there were no external injuries. However, it was decided that the JJ Hospital will conduct the autopsy and confirm the exact cause of his death,” said Dr Dhere.
Dr Padmaja Keskar, executive health officer, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that they haven’t received any update about the new leptospirosis death from the Sion Hospital till now.
Explaining the reason behind the delay in sending a report to BMC, a senior doctor from Sion Hospital said that the confirmatory report of leptospirosis diagnosis of Sachin came from Kasturba Hospital on Saturday night, due to which the update is yet to be sent to the officials of the civic body.
If confirmed by the death review committee, it could be the fourth death of leptospirosis in the city this year.