Mumbai: Member of Parliament and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule said on Friday that the women doctors of Mumbai’s civic-run Nair Hospital who have raised complaints about sexual harassment are being silenced. “Despite them requesting to be heard, government authorities are turning a blind eye to this entire issue. We demand urgent action now, it is gravely jeopardising women’s safety,” Sule said in her X post.

On Thursday, in a hearing, several more female students came forward to lodge complaints against a suspended assistant professor from BYL Nair Hospital, who was accused of sexual harassment. To date, around 10 complaints have been filed against the professor, reports say.

As per HT’s report, the hearing was organised following a directive from the additional municipal commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. It was conducted by the Savitribai Phule Women’s Resource Centre’s Internal Complaints Committee and Sexual Harassment Prevention Committee at the Workplace. 

What Is the Nair Hospital Case

A female student studying at Bai Yamunabai Laxman (B.Y.L.) Nair Hospital and Medical College, located in Mumbai Central, lodged an official complaint accusing the associate professor of inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment. The allegations were initially examined by the hospital’s internal Sexual Harassment Prevention Committee.

Earlier this month, Nair Hospital’s Dean had said that he received the information about the sexual harassment case from the internal complaints committee on April 12 and by first week of June the professor was taken off from all academic activities.

On September 15, the BMC informed that the professor was suspended after the sexual harassment complaints. The case was escalated to the Municipal Headquarters’ Complaint Committee under the Savitribai Phule Women’s Resource Center.

Mumbai: Akshay Shinde, the main accused in the Badlapur atrocities case, was encountered. After the death of Akshay Shinde, his parents have complained that there is no place to bury him and there is opposition to his funeral. In this background, Akshay Shinde’s parents rushed to the High Court. A hearing was held in the High Court about this recently. At this time, the High Court gave an important order to bury the body of Akshay Shinde by Monday. It has also been said by the lawyers that the state government will provide space for this.

Badlapur case accused Akshay Shinde had an encounter with the police three days ago. Akshay’s body was handed over to his relatives the next day. At this time, it was decided to bury the dead body as the case is being investigated. But the locals of Badlapur and the MNS have opposed the burial of his body. There is opposition to burying Akshay’s body in three places. During the hearing in the court today in this case, the judge has given a strict order to the police. Take steps to bury Akshay’s body by Monday, if the body is buried in two days then inform the court on Monday, the court also said.

During this hearing, the government advocates presented their side in this matter. The local police are looking after the safety of Akshay Shinde’s parents. But the lawyers who are in favor of Akshay Shinde are going outside the court and giving wrong information to the media. Akshay Shinde’s parents are being fully supported by the state government, the public prosecutor said.

The judge will take police precautions in this regard. He said that we have already informed him in this regard. After this, the public prosecutor told the court that we will provide a place for burying the dead body. The judge ordered to cooperate with the government, they are taking responsibility in this regard.

Meanwhile, Akshay’s body is being neglected and an application was made in the Bombay High Court to get a place to bury his body. Hearing on this application was held today. In this hearing, the High Court has directed to bury the body by Monday. Also, the state government will provide a place to bury the body of Akshay Shinde. The lawyers of the state government have testified in this regard in the Bombay High Court.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar-headed Election Commission of India (ECI) team will hold two-day discussions with various stakeholders and review the preparations for the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election starting from Friday.

The team, which was welcomed by the state chief electoral officer S. Chockalingam on Thursday night, will hold discussions with the political parties, state government officers, enforcement agencies, district collectors and Superintendents of Police from 10 a.m. onwards on Friday and Saturday. The CEC along with two Election Commissioners, Ganesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, will address the media on Saturday.

The ECI team on Friday will meet political parties to seek their views. During the day, it will have discussions with the state Chief Electoral Officer, enforcement agencies, the state chief secretary, the director general of police and other administrative secretaries and senior police officers with regard to the deployment of the necessary manpower and law and order situation.

On September 28, the ECI team will hold an interactive meeting with the district collectors and superintendents of police to take stock of the ground-level preparations. Thereafter, CEC will address the press conference. The ECI team’s visit is important as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had recently said that the Assembly election may take place in the second week of November. The term of the present Assembly ends on November 26.

The ECI’s visit comes after the state CEO on September 12 and 13 met the deputy district election officers, district collectors and chief district election officers and reviewed the preparations for the elections in 288 Assembly constituencies. The CEO reviewed the status of electronic voting machines, the updated voters’ list, the status of polling material and district-level poll management, especially, the availability of the required number of staff and security arrangements for free and fair elections.

Further, the CEO also took stock of the situation of the district-level preparedness for conducting counting smoothly. He also reviewed the plan to start polling stations in high-rise buildings and cooperative societies with over 200 families. Maharashtra has added 2.4 million new voters during the special drive conducted between August 6 and 20.

In view of this, the number of total voters in the state rose to 95.4 million, up from 92.94 million at the end of the Lok Sabha election. Over 2.08 million applications for voter addition and 370,000 applications for name deletion due to death or duplication were received by the Election Commission of India during the special drive.