Amreli

A local court in Amreli district today sentenced three years jail term and Rs 25 thousand fine to the local BJP Loksabha MP Naran Kachhadiya and four other accused including a woman leader of the party in a case related to the beating of a doctor on duty in civil hospital here in January 2013.

The sessions court, however, gave them an interim relief with non-arrest and a time of one month for appeal in the High Court.

The case pertains to beating of civil hospital doctor Bhimji Dhabi in January 2013 when he allegedly refused to give treatment to the injured son of a woman leader of the women wing of the Party Madhuben Joshi. Mrs Joshi then called Mr. Kachhadiya and his henchmen to beat up the doctor.

Mr. Kachadiya today said that the court has given him relief till May 11 for appeal. ‘I am innocent and will move to the high court soon,’ he said.– DeshGujarat

PTI reports: Amreli sessions court in Gujarat today sentenced the BJP MP Naranbhai Kachhadia to three years’ imprisonment for assaulting a doctor at a government hospital on January 1, 2013.

Judge D R Bhatt also imposed a fine of Rs 35,000 on him.

The court stayed the sentence for a month so as to enable Kachhadia and other convicts to approach the High Court against the conviction.

Kachhadia, a two-term MP from Amreli, might face disqualification under The Representation of The People Act as per the July 2013 judgement of the Supreme Court.

Kachhadia and others were accused of beating up Bhimjibhai Dabhi, a doctor at Amreli civil hospital, on January 1, 2013, for refusing to attend to a BJP worker’s relative.

Dabhi asked the patient to wait as he was tending to another person. The patient called up Kachhadia who came to the hospital and beat up Dabhi, apart from hurling casteist abuse. Dabhi belongs to a scheduled caste.

A case was registered under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the IPC.

The court acquitted the MP of the charge under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, but awarded him three years’ imprisonment for `voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant doing his duty’, and `using force or violence through unlawful assembly’.

Four others — Kirit Bhamja, Madhu Joshi, Ravi Joshi and the MP’s driver were also sentenced to three years’s prison term.