A 73-year-old doctor at a tea garden in Assam’s Jorhat district died on Saturday, hours after he was beaten up by workers at the estate, PTI reported on Sunday. The workers allegedly beat up the doctor after one of their colleagues, who was undergoing treatment at the hospital in Teok Tea Estate, died.

“The garden doctor, 73-year-old Dr Deben Dutta was assaulted following the death of one Somra Majhi who was undergoing treatment at the estate’s hospital,” Jorhat Deputy Commissioner Roshni Aparanji Korati said.

The workers allegedly blamed Dutta for not being present at the hospital when Majhi, a 33-year-old worker, was admitted in a critical condition around noon on Saturday. By the time the doctor returned around 3.30, Majhi had died. Angry workers then beat him up and locked him in a room.

The police later rescued Dutt and admitted him in the Jorhat Medical College and Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

In June, over 100 doctors working at state-run hospitals in West Bengal resigned, amid country-wide protests against the assault on two interns at the NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The doctors had been seriously wounded in the mob attack, which took place after a patient died the previous day. The matter was resolved only when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee agreed to the doctors’ demands for security and a safe working environment, among others.

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