POSTED ON MAY 18, 2020

The Visakhapatham police on Saturday, 16 May, tied up the hands of a local doctor, and dragged him on the road for allegedly creating nuisance in an inebriated state, reported Hindustan Times. The cops then put him in an auto-rickshaw.

The doctor in question, Dr K Sudhakar, was bare-chested and the video of him being dragged by a police constable has gone viral on social media.

An anesthesiologist at Narsipatnam Government Hospital, Sudhakar was suspended earlier this month because he alleged that the government was not providing enough PPE kits and N95 masks to the doctors.

The police commissioner of Visakhapatnam RK Meena later made a statement that the constable who heckled Sudhakar was placed under suspension and an inquiry was underway. However, he alleged that Sudhakar was in a ‘drunken state’ and that he snatched a constable’s phone and threw it away.

But he was not drunk

‘Inhuman Treatment Because He Was a Dalit’

Telugu Desam Party politburo member Varla Ramaiah told Hindustan Times that “It was an inhuman treatment meted out to a Dalit doctor for questioning the inefficiency of the government. The police and the ruling party leaders are trying to project him as a mentally challenged person to defend their action.”

Sudhakar had been suspended last month by the Andhra Pradesh government after having complained about the lack of adequate number of PPEs. “We are asked to use the same mask for 15 days before asking for a fresh mask. How can we treat patients risking our lives?” he had asked in a video.

He worked as an anaesthesiologist at Narsipatnam government hospital and had been suspended by the government following his comments.