A Shiv Sena corporator and his associates allegedly assaulted two doctors at a hospital in Maharashtra’s Thane district after a family was advised to shift a newborn to another facility, police said on Wednesday (July 8, 2026). The incident occurred at the civic-run hospital in Kalyan on Monday evening (July 6) and was captured on a video, which later went viral on social media. The video purportedly showed the corporator hitting the doctors.
A case was registered on Tuesday night against the Sena corporator, Ramesh Sukrya Mhatre, and five others, following outrage and pressure from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which threatened to shut clinics and hospitals in the area if immediate action was not taken. According to the police, the incident occurred at the Shastri Nagar Hospital, run by the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC). Doctors Srishti Bawiskar and Vaibhav Salunkhe had advised the relatives of a newborn to shift the baby to another facility due to a lack of space in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of their hospital.
Angered by this, the relatives contacted the corporator, who went to the hospital and allegedly abused and hit the doctors. Dr Salunkhe suffered injuries in the incident. KDMC Medical Health Officer Dr. Deepa Shukla, along with the medical staff, approached the police late Monday night, but the case was not lodged then.
The video capturing the assault went viral on social media on Tuesday afternoon. The public and medical bodies criticised the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena for allegedly shielding the corporator. Hospital staff staged a “work-stop” protest on Tuesday, demanding the immediate arrest of Mhatre and his associates.
A delegation of IMA Kalyan and Dombivli units representatives and leaders of the civic workers union met KDMC Commissioner Abhinav Goyal. The IMA representatives also threatened to shut down all private clinics and hospitals in the region on Wednesday if an FIR was not registered. They also demanded the immediate arrest of the corporator and his supporters.
A case was subsequently registered against the corporator, his four male supporters, and a woman under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 121(1) (voluntarily causing hurt), 351(1) (criminal intimidation), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 189(2) (unlawful assembly) and 191(2) (rioting), police said. Assistant Commissioner of Police Suhas Nemade told reporters that a probe was underway into the incident and no one has been arrested as yet.
