The court emphasized that the serious nature of charges against the petitioner warranted the denial of pre-arrest bail to uphold the safety and order within healthcare institutions.

ORDER

This is an application seeking pre-arrest bail filed under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 .

2. Petitioner is the accused in Crime No.463/2022 of Mattancherry Police Station alleging offences under Sections 294 (b), 506, 509 and 353 of the Indian penal Code, 1860, Section 3 (1) of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 and Section 4 (3) of the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2012 (for short, 'the Act').

3. Prosecution case is that on 23.05.2022, petitioner had admitted his wife to the Mattancherry Women and Children Hospital as she had reached the final stage of her pregnancy. However, when the patient was referred to the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital by the Doctors at Mattancherry Hospital after testing for Covid-19, petitioner became agitated and committed violence on the medical health persons as well as the medical institution and thereby committed the offences alleged against him.

4. Smt.Leema Rosey, the learned counsel for the petitioner attempted to persuade this Court to release the petitioner on pre-arrest bail on the contention that the petitioner is totally innocent and that the incident as alleged had never occurred. She further pleaded that the petitioner had merely enquired about the nature of treatment being meted out to his wife and also merely enquired about the reason for referring his wife to the medical college. According to the learned counsel, the request by the petitioner to obtain such information has been misinterpreted and a false case has been launched against him. The learned counsel further pointed out that petitioner had never abused nor caused any damage or destruction to any property as alleged by the prosecution.

5. Sri.Noushad K.A., the learned Public Prosecutor opposed the grant of pre-arrest bail and pointed out that petitioner went berserk on 23.05.2022 and caused serious damages to the hospital apart from behaving violently against health care persons as contemplated under the Act thereby committing the offences alleged.

This Court had recently considered the scope of the provisions of the Act and even observed that the grant of pre-arrest bail to persons alleged to have committed offences under the Act would cause great prejudice to the scope and purport of the Act. In the instant case, petitioner is alleged to have committed damage also apart from causing hindrance/ obstruction. Damage to public property has also been allegedly caused by the petitioner. The offences alleged against the petitioner are serious. Unless those acts of cowardice are nipped in the bud itself, all medical health institutions of the State will fall into disarray and panic will prevail.

In such circumstances, I am not inclined to release the petitioner on pre-arrest bail. Accordingly, I dismiss this application.