Nagpur police will examine old cases involving assaults on doctors, monitor their trials and consider preventive surety action against accused persons following four attacks and threats reported in the city over the past month, Police Commissioner Vishwas Nangre Patil told The Times of India.
The commissioner said the police response would focus on building evidence-backed cases that can withstand scrutiny in court. Investigators are examining CCTV footage and other available evidence before deciding on arrests, custodial interrogation and the legal provisions applicable to each case.
Patil said arrests and custodial questioning must be supported by sufficient grounds. The approach, he said, is intended to ensure that police action is legally sound while allowing investigators to establish the circumstances of each incident involving doctors or healthcare institutions.
The police are also exploring preventive action under provisions that allow authorities to seek sureties for good behaviour. According to the commissioner, failure to furnish the required sureties can lead to detention in jail. Police are considering the measure in cases involving attacks on doctors, although the specific cases in which it will be applied were not identified in the interview.
The announcement comes after doctors demanded immediate arrests and stringent action following the recent incidents. The police commissioner said officers had begun identifying older cases involving assaults on doctors and would monitor their trials to ensure that they reach their logical conclusion.
The focus on old cases places the issue beyond the immediate question of arrests. It also brings trial progress, evidence presentation and case follow-up into the policing response. For healthcare workers, the outcome will depend not only on whether new complaints are registered, but also on whether investigations produce admissible evidence and whether cases move through the court process.
Patil cited a recent housebreaking case in which CCTV footage helped secure a conviction as an example of the importance of evidence collection. He said police were similarly collecting relevant material and placing it on record in cases involving attacks on doctors. The statement did not provide details of the number of older cases being reviewed, their current stages or the timelines for completing the exercise.
The commissioner said the police wanted to ensure that attacks on doctors and healthcare institutions did not go unpunished. He added that convictions in recent and old cases would demonstrate that violence against medical professionals has legal consequences. The next steps are the identification of pending cases, continued evidence collection and monitoring of their trials.
