Rs 2 lakh fine, up to 7 years’ jail for attack on health workers, says govt

The Centre has issued an ordinance for protection of doctors under which cases of assault on medics will be non bailable, Information and Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said Wednesday.

“Changes in the Epidemic Diseases Act through ordinance have been approved by the cabinet. It will be implemented after the President’s sanction. Offences will be made non bailable and cognizable,” Javadekar said at a briefing.

“Investigations will be completed in 30 days. There will be stringent punishment including fines up to Rs 2 lakh. If serious cases, the punishment will be imprisonment up to seven years and fine up to Rs five lakh,” he said.

“The message is clear. No attacks on health staff and doctors will be tolerated,” Javadekar said. The government had received several complaints of assaults on doctors and health workers, particularly those involved in Covid care.

Watch | ‘Up to 7-yr jail, hefty fines’: Modi govt passes ordinance to protect health workers

The decision came hours after Union home minister Amit Shah during a meeting with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) assured doctors of their safety following reports of attacks on health workers in different parts of the country.

The IMA had said on Monday it would observe a ‘Black Day’ on April 23 if the government does not enact a central law on violence against healthcare workers.

Doctors affiliated with various associations have been urging the government to bring in a law to make assaults against them non bailable.

Medical professionals particularly those involved in Covid care have been attacked in various places, often when they have gone to quarantine those testing positive or by relatives of coronavirus patients.

They have also been harassed by landlords and thrown out of their accommodation over fears they could be carriers of coronavirus.