The Mumbai Police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against comedian Sunil Pal for defaming doctors engaged in the treatment of COVID-19 patients and accusing them of human trafficking.
The FIR was lodged by the Andheri police on the basis of a complaint filed by Dr Sushmita Bhatnagar, head of the Association of Medical Consultants.
According to the complaint, Pal had passed some derogatory comments on the healthcare workers during a show on television.
In a video of the incident, he can be heard calling doctors “fraud” and also accusing them of cheating patients under the pretence of COVID-19 treatment.
“Doctors are a form of God, but 90 per cent of the doctors have taken an evil form, and are fraud. Poor people are being scared in the name of COVID all day, they are humiliated and harassed by saying there are no beds, no plasma, no medicine, no this, no that,” he had said.
He also stated that 90 per cent of the doctors are dressed in “demon suits” and only 10 per cent are actually working for the betterment of society.
He said that the doctors do not care about people succumbing to the virus and labelled them as “thieves”.
The police have registered a case under sections 505-II (statement conducting mischief) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and further investigation is underway.
Surjitt Sahani
