Jharkhand High Court on Friday chastised the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) authorities for not being able to conclude the inquiry into the clash between doctors and attendants of a patient who died in course of treatment earlier this month.

A bench of Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice S.N. Prasad while hearing a public interest litigation initiated suo motu pulled up RIMS superintendent Dr Vivek Kashyap for not being able to complete the inquiry.

Kashyap informed the court that two senior resident doctors, Ravi Shankar Roy and Deepak, did not appear before the inquiry committee ordered by the court.

The bench was also informed that the CCTV cameras were not working in the neurosurgery department of at RIMS where the patient was treated. The images captured by the cameras were also not clear, and blurred.

The bench observed that the RIMS administration ought to have been more responsive and should have taken steps to repair the cameras or ensure that the footage was recorded better.

The bench observed that the actions of the RIMS administration seem to be protecting its doctors.

An inquiry should be conducted on the operation of cameras and why their upkeep was not looked into, the court said.

The bench also marked that senior resident doctors Ravi Bhushan Roy and Deepak remaining absent before the inquiry committee was a matter of serious concern.

The incident had occurred on February 10 when a patient was admitted in the department of neurosurgery and died in course of treatment. Around 30 people entered the department and wanted to forcibly take the body without post-mortem. The mob had an altercation with the junior doctors and medical staff, which ended up in a scuffle.

On the other hand, published news reports mentioned that the patient was admitted at 3.30am on February 10 and no doctor attended to him. Doctors only started treating the patient at 10am soon after which the patient died, according to reports.

The relatives of the patient claimed that no doctor treated the patient after he was admitted and the medical staff misbehaved with the patient party.

The high court bench had observed that this was a serious situation and no one is allowed to take the law in their hands. If the doctors were heckled by the mob, they should have called in the police rather than indulging in beating up people, the court had said earlier.