FIR was registered against the doctor Rajesh Mishra and Raghavendra Khare, another member of the hospital staff, under various charges, including voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal intimidation. Image for representation.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Madhya Pradesh Public Health and Medical Education Department fired a doctor at the District Hospital in Chhatarpur for assaulting a 77-year-old man and dragging him on the hospital floor, after a video of the incident went viral on Sunday (April 20, 2025).

Earlier in the day, an FIR was registered against the doctor Rajesh Mishra and Raghavendra Khare, another member of the hospital staff, under various charges, including voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal intimidation. Dr. Mishra had been posted at the government hospital as an orthopaedics specialist, through the National Health Mission (NHM).

The district unit of the Indian Red Cross Society also terminated the services of Mr. Khare, a staff member and allegedly the other man seen with Dr. Mishra in the video, which showed two men dragging an elderly man out of the hospital wing and slapping him. 

The FIR against the two was filed at the Kotwali police station under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 115(2), 296, 351(3) and 3(5). 

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Superintendent also suspended

The order to terminate Dr. Mishra’s services was issued by the NHM’s Madhya Pradesh Director Saloni Sidana. As per the order, the incident took place on April 17, when Uddhav Lal Joshi, 77, a resident of Naugaon town, had gone to the hospital for his 70-year-old wife’s treatment. 

The department also suspended Civil Surgeon and Chief Hospital Superintendent G.L. Ahirwar for failing to control his subordinates’ actions, and transferred him to the Chief Medical and Health Officer’s office in Balaghat district. 

Dr. Ahirwar had earlier defended Dr. Mishra before the media, and blamed the incident on overcrowding and Mr. Joshi “cutting the queue”. 

The action against Dr. Mishra and Mr. Khare was taken after a three-member committee probed the incident and submitted a report. Dr. Ahirwar was also part of the panel. 

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Opposing narratives

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Joshi said that he had come to the hospital as his wife was suffering from nerve pain. “The doctor asked me to get in the queue while I was already in it. And then he slapped me,” he said. 

Dr. Mishra, however, alleged that the elderly man had broken the queue and pushed a woman who was waiting for her turn. “He also misbehaved with other patients and an attendant who asked him to stay in the queue. When I got up to take a bathroom break, he held my hand, asking me not to leave. He started misbehaving with me and suddenly slapped me,” he said. 

‘BJP’s insensitive system’

The incident also drew online backlash against the BJP government, with the Opposition Congress targeting it over its “insensitivity and silence”.

“The inhumanity that happened to a 75-year-old man in Chhatarpur hospital is not just an incident – ​​it has become the hallmark of the BJP government’s ‘insensitive system’. The poor, the elderly and the sick all are suffering, but the government is silent,” said Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar, sharing the video on X.

“Will BJP put this in the category of developed India?” he asked.