A cardiologist at a premier hospital in Srinagar was allegedly assaulted by the police and detained for hours last week while he was on his way to a medical emergency, NDTV reported on Tuesday.

Dr Syed Maqbool, an intervention cardiologist at Srinagar’s Super Speciality Hospital, alleged that he was stopped at a checkpoint in the city on Saturday and not allowed to go to his hospital amid the coronavirus lockdown. He claimed that the police hit him with batons when he stepped out of his car.

Maqbool alleged that he was taken to the police station, where he was tortured and abused for hours. He said that the police took away his phone and identity card. “The officer [in-charge of a police station] asked me to accompany him to the police station where I was mentally tortured, abused and harassed for a whole day,” the doctor added.

“The policeman...humiliated me by saying things like doctors are thieves and that we prescribe duplicate medicines,” he added. Maqbool said that an officer told him that his patients and hospital “could go to hell”, according to News18.

The police, meanwhile, alleged that Maqbool had misbehaved with one of the cops on duty. The cardiologist has denied this accusation.

Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar told The Hindu that he has instructed a senior officer to submit a factual report in on the incident. “We shall conduct an impartial enquiry and take due action,” he said.

In a statement on Monday, the Medical Faculty Association of Government Medical College Srinagar and Government Dental College Srinagar criticised the police for their abusive behaviour towards doctors on way to their duties. “The association has already brought the matter to the notice of Principal/Dean of Government Medical College Srinagar and while conveying its displeasure have requested her to take up the issue with the higher authorities urgently,” their statement read, according to Greater Kashmir. “Follow up action in the matter shall be chalked out after due deliberations in the executive body.”

Dr Samia Rashid, the principal of Government Medical College Srinagar, called the incident “deplorable”. “We as frontline workers have been working day in and day out risking our lives and families only to be harrassed,” she tweeted. “We as the administration have raised the issue with [the] concerned authorities and hope for swift action.”

Last month, the Centre had approved amendments to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to make attacks on frontline health workers non-bailable offences, punishable with up to seven years in jail.