Dr Deben Dutta, 73, was allegedly beaten to death by a group of people at a tea estate in the State’s Jorhat district on 31 August, the Indian news agency ANI reported.
Assam: A doctor, Deben Dutta, beaten to death by a tea garden worker's family&others, allegedly after the worker died during treatment at a hospital in Teok Tea Garden. RA Korati, Dy Commissioner Jorhat says, "Inquiry will be conducted." pic.twitter.com/u8R7lnmrUf
— ANI (@ANI) September 1, 2019
The incident left people on social media shocked, evoking widespread condemnation.
Sad. #Lynching has become #law of the land in #India. Hope #sanity prevails. #HumanRightsCrisis #Modi #Assam #Kashmir.https://t.co/2sdfoMkjvP
— ayesha umarعائشھ (@umaenauman_09) September 2, 2019
The culture of impunity and hence lynching is so infectious that not one community or one ethnic group shall remain affected in times to come. From a medical perspective, this is exactly how an epidemic grows and engulfs a cohort. #NewIndiahttps://t.co/21PlWXiT2b
— Shah Alam Khan (@shahalam13) September 1, 2019
How unkind we are becoming as a society. Mob lynching, Hate and violence seem to be becoming the norm and people accept it as normal. There is no fear of the law.
Doctor, 73, Beaten To Death By Tea Garden Workers In Assam https://t.co/rujGjaycZa via @ndtv
— Onir (@IamOnir) September 1, 2019
Here’s a Doctor giving his time to serve tea estate workers and here’s what’s done to him. Barbaric.
— Sidrah (@SidrahDP) September 2, 2019
IMA is sleeping?
Honest to god, Lynching & Mob justice is become a past time of sorts? https://t.co/95FECChFCl
Just wondering why no political or media hullabaloo regarding the lynching of a senior Doctor in Assam? Or doctors being killed by patients is not news worthy? Sad that this trend of attacking doctors is catching on. Time will come when kids will refrain from aspiring to be one.
— Vikram Samal (@VikramSamal) September 2, 2019
After the incident, a large number of doctors from the Assam Medical College and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) organising a candle-lit vigil over the incident on the weekend.
According to Dr Dipul Nath, one of the participants in the candlelight march, it is about protesting against the incident in Jorhat where "a senior colleague of ours was beaten to death by tea garden workers".
"We do save lives, but how can we be expected do so when our lives are under threat," he added.
Teok Tea Estate workers allegedly fatally thrashed Dr Dutta for his alleged absence in the hospital when the woman, identified as Sukra Majhi, needed his urgent medical attention. She died while receiving a saline infusion.
Police said it initiated an inquiry into the incident and they have been asked to submit a report to the court within a week.
