AAP corporator in Surat held for slapping employee of civic-run hospital

Police have arrested a sitting corporator of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Surat city of Gujarat for allegedly slapping an employee of a civic-run hospital, alleging that the staff of the facility kept patients availing benefits under the Ayushman Bharat scheme waiting for hours, an official said.

The incident occurred at the SMIMER Hospital here on Wednesday and the AAP corporator, Vipul Suhagiya, was arrested on Thursday night, the police said.

Suhagiya, elected from Varachha area of Surat, was booked under several Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections, including 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (2) (criminal intimidation), 332 (causing hurt to deter public servant from doing his duty), inspector Alpesh Gabani of of Varachha police station said.

The First Information Report (FIR) against Suhagiya was registered based on a complaint given by Rahul Patel, who works as a contractual employee at the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC)-run SMIMER Hospital.

Patel was hired by the civic body through an agency which provides staff on outsource basis. His task is to provide necessary information to patients who are covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the FIR said.

Patel claimed that Suhagiya barged into his cabin in the hospital on October 4 and started abusing him alleging that despite waiting for hours in the queue, a patient known to him was not attended to by the staff.

Patel alleged that the AAP corporator was also angry because he had refused to talk to Suhagiya over the phone when the patient handed over his phone to Patel after dialling the AAP corporator's number.

"As per the FIR, the AAP corporator then slapped the government servant, deployed in the hospital for work related to Ayushman card, and also threatened to kill him. We have arrested Suhagiya on Thursday," Gabani said.

Following his arrest, local AAP leaders and other corporators gathered outside Varachha police station on Thursday night to stage a protest against the police and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, AAP spokesperson Yogesh Jadvani said.

"We gathered outside the police station to register our protest because our corporator was arrested on false charges by the police. Suhagiya only scolded the hospital staff for their lackadaisical approach as they were taking too long to respond to patients standing in queue. Suhagiya did not hit the hospital employee as claimed by the police," he added.