The Bombay High Court granted bail to Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre and four others.

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre and four other accused in the alleged assault of doctors at a municipal hospital in Thane district were granted bail by the Bombay High Court on Friday, with the court directing that the trial be completed in a time-bound manner.The bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad directed all the accused to stay outside Maharashtra until the chargesheet is filed. They will be allowed to return only after the trial court frames charges in the case.The HC also directed the Maharashtra government to appoint a special public prosecutor for the trial within 10 days.The bench noted that an elected corporator is believed to be “for the people and by the people”.“If such an elected person assaults his own voters, then it is an assault on the fabric of the democracy itself,” HC said.The court, however, said the investigation was progressing rapidly and the accused had already spent some time behind bars.“However, considering the fact that the investigation is now being carried out at a fast pace and the accused have now spent some time behind bars, we feel bail can be granted,” the court said.The court directed the police to complete their investigation and obtain reports from the State Forensic Science Laboratory within 12 working days. The chargesheet must be filed within five days thereafter.“The trial court shall frame charges against the accused within one week after filing of chargesheet. Once the trial commences, the prosecution and defence shall refrain from seeking adjournments on unreasonable and trivial grounds,” HC said.The court also made it clear that the accused must not contact witnesses or tamper with evidence after being permitted to return to Maharashtra.“The accused will be allowed to return to Maharashtra only when the trial court frames charges in the case. Even then, they shall not contact the witnesses in the case or tamper with any evidence,” HC said.Mhatre, a corporator of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), had earlier secured bail from a Thane district court on July 15. The Bombay High Court subsequently took suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the matter on July 18 and stayed the lower court’s bail order, directing him to surrender before the police. He later surrendered and remained in judicial custody.The HC had called the Kalyan court’s order “perverse”, observing that the magistrate court had taken the matter lightly and failed to consider Mhatre’s criminal antecedents. The high court noted that 18 assault cases had been registered against Mhatre in the past, though he had been acquitted in 17.The alleged assault took place on July 6 at Shastri Nagar Hospital after Mhatre and the other accused gathered there following an argument over the alleged delay in treating a pregnant woman. Her family members had accused hospital staff of delaying treatment, following which the confrontation allegedly escalated into an assault on doctors.

The Bombay high court will pass an order on Friday regarding bail for Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre (File Photo).

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday indicated that it would on Friday pass an order to release on bail Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre (73) and three others who have been accused and arrested for allegedly beating up three doctors, including a woman, at Shastri Nagar Municipal Hospital in Dombivli on July 6.The release would be on a strict condition to remain out of Maharashtra till the chargesheet is filed, said Acting Chief Justice RV Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad.Senior counsel Aabad Ponda, while seeking bail for Mhatre, said he was willing to stay outside the state till the chargesheet is filed, and the HC could impose such and other stringent conditions.The HC had after reading about the “brutal assault’’ on even a female doctor and the strike call given by Indian Medical Association (IMA) had on its own taken up the issue, stayed the bail orders for all four accused, and ensured Mhatre had gone back behind bars following his release from magisterial custody. Ponda said a “lesson was learnt”, but invoked the ‘bail, not jail’ principle.Senior counsel Ashok Mundargi, an amicus curiae — appointed to assist the court — in the matter said a speedy trial is important to send out a “strong message’’ to retain society’s faith in the system, especially where politicians are involved.Shishir Hirey, the state’s public prosecutor, said most of the probe is complete and the chargesheet would be filed in 10 days, but that the forensic reports are awaited.Mundargi submitted that if the HC were to direct the forensic laboratory, the report would be expedited. The HC said that it would do so, and sought to know from all sides present what other bail conditions be imposed. Senior counsel S U Kamdar, for IMA, suggested that Mhatre be kept outside the city at least till the trial is over and even after chargesheet is filed. Advocate Sana Raees Khan represented the three co-accused in court.The HC said it would issue directions that in 10 days, along with the chargesheet, a special public prosecutor with “large experience” be appointed, who should not be replaced mid-way, and that the trial be fastracked.All four accused, who are lodged at Aadharwadi Jail in Kalyan, would on their release be asked to report to the local police station outside Maharashtra and would not be allowed to contact any of the witnesses or other persons, and that no attempt to tamper with evidence will be tolerated. The HC will pass the order on these lines on Friday.Kamdar also said the two doctors, including the woman doctor, who have still not reported back for work, be given police protection to enable their return. Both had tendered their resignations, which the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation had not accepted.Hirey said the doctor who lodged the complaint was given protection from his hometown in Washim to Mumbai, and local police there were “sensitised’’. He added that the state was ready to provide security, provided the doctors’ accept it because last time, the state was told their privacy would get compromised.

Turbulence incidents are increasing globally and in India, causing passenger injuries.

As climate change intensifies turbulence and India’s first-time flyer population grows, the gap between a routine jolt and a serious injury may come down to one simple habit: keeping the seat belt fastened, writesAn Air India flight from Phuket to Delhi dropped nearly 300 feet over Odisha this week, injuring four cabin crew members and more than a dozen passengers. It is the kind of incident that makes headlines for a day and then fades. Except it shouldn’t.Most passengers will go their entire flying lives without experiencing an accident during take-off or landing. Turbulence is different. Nearly everyone who flies often enough will encounter it, and once in a while, it can turn into something close to a nightmare.The Phuket-Delhi flight fits a pattern that recurs with almost clockwork regularity in India between April and mid-July. But it is also part of a wider, worsening global toll.

High-altitude flights can encounter CAT

In May 2024, a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 flying from London to Singapore hit severe turbulence over Myanmar. The impact was so violent that one passenger, who had a heart condition, suffered heart failure and died. Nearly 80 others were injured, making it the deadliest confirmed turbulence event involving a major international carrier in years.In July 2025, a Delta Air Lines flight from Salt Lake City encountered turbulence at 37,000 feet that sent service carts and food flying through the cabin and left passengers hospitalised. In the US, the world’s largest aviation market, turbulence caused more than 200 serious injuries between 2009 and 2024. The annual count has been rising, not flattening.Understanding these weather-related accidents and serious incidents requires distinguishing between two very different kinds of turbulence that aircraft routinely encounter, particularly in India.

Aircraft are built to withstand far more than what any turbulence can produce

Two Types of TurbulenceThe first is the kind pilots can see coming.As the Indian subcontinent heats up through April, May and mid-June, moisture-laden air is pushed upwards into cooler layers. This creates towering cumulonimbus clouds, or Cb clouds, which can stretch from a few thousand feet to more than 50,000 feet — well above the ceiling of any passenger jet.Inside these clouds are violent updrafts and downdrafts, lightning and hail. Sometimes, the clouds form a chain of cells known to pilots as a squall line.Over the Chota Nagpur Plateau, spanning Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Bengal and Odisha, these systems have names of their own: Nor’westers or Kal Baisakhi. They typically erupt with startling speed in the afternoon or early evening.

Previous rough rides

This is convective turbulence. Airborne weather radar usually displays it clearly, often in magenta on the cockpit screen, giving crews time to change course.The second kind is more dangerous precisely because it cannot be seen.Clear-air turbulence, or CAT, is generated by jet streams — fast, narrow rivers of high-altitude wind. Sharp differences in speed and direction between adjacent layers create violent wind shear.CAT occurs above 15,000 feet. It is invisible both to the naked eye and to the aircraft’s onboard weather radar. There is no cloud to avoid and no signature on the cockpit screen.The primary warning comes through SIGMETs, or Significant Meteorological Information bulletins. Meteorologists issue them to identify areas where jet-stream turbulence is likely, based on forecast wind shear rather than anything onboard radar can detect in real time.

An inside view of the Air India flight from Phuket to Delhi after it hit turbulence, injuring a number of passengers, in New Delhi on Tuesday.

True jet-stream CAT, however, is largely a mid-latitude phenomenon. This means northern India, which lies closer to the jet stream, faces the greater risk. Over peninsular and southern India, much of what is recorded as CAT is more likely to be convective turbulence caused by small, fast-growing cells that have not yet accumulated enough moisture to appear on radar. Meteorologists say this is particularly likely at night or when an aircraft is flying in and out of clouds.But India Flies DifferentlyUnlike most other countries, India has a particular reason to quarrel with the weather gods.The country’s domestic passenger base has expanded rapidly in recent years, with much of that growth coming from first-time flyers. Many do not fully understand what the seat belt sign means. When it lights up, it is an instruction to fasten the belt — not a suggestion or a formality associated only with take-off and landing.That gap in basic air-travel awareness is becoming more dangerous as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of turbulence. The aviation system cannot continue leaving passenger safety to chance.India needs clearer and more frequent passenger messaging, not merely a single line in the safety briefing. Regulators must also begin treating rising turbulence exposure as a foreseeable operational risk, rather than a run of bad luck.Impact Of Global WarmingThe science behind the rising risk is well established.Research from the University of Reading’s Department of Meteorology in the UK has identified a measurable strengthening of jet-stream wind shear over the North Atlantic. It is now more than 10% stronger than when satellite records began in the late 1970s.Climate models based on that trend project significant increases in clear-air turbulence over the Indian subcontinent in the coming decades. The sharpest increases are expected over northern India, particularly during the periods Indian carriers already dread: the pre-monsoon months from March to May and the monsoon months through July.Because cockpit weather radar cannot detect CAT, the safest habit for passengers is to keep seat belts loosely fastened throughout the flight, including during cruise — not only when the sign is illuminated.Aircraft Are Built SturdyEven the most anxious passenger can take comfort in one fact: aircraft are built to withstand far more punishment than what any turbulence is likely to produce. This is not a matter of chance or fortunate design.Aircraft are tested to their structural limits before carrying paying passengers. During certification, manufacturers subject wings to loads far greater than those produced by severe turbulence. The wings are bent by several feet to prove that the structure has ample safety margins. Passengers who see a wing flexing in rough air are watching the airframe do exactly what it was engineered — and proven — to do.An aircraft that encountered hail and suffered nose damage while flying from Delhi to Srinagar in 2025 landed safely and remained structurally sound despite the visible damage.In turbulence, the greatest risk is almost never structural failure. It is injury to unsecured people from being thrown around the cabin or struck by loose objects. That is the one variable passengers can control. India’s accident record makes the distinction stark.Fasten Your Seat BeltsOn May 1, 2022, SpiceJet flight SG945 encountered severe turbulence while descending from Mumbai towards Durgapur. The pilots had issued two seat belt warnings before the aircraft was hit.Passengers who had not buckled up were thrown against the ceiling. One fell into the aisle, and a ceiling panel came loose. Fourteen passengers and three crew members were injured. Two required intensive care. One of them, reportedly a first-time flyer, died nearly five months later from complications related to a spinal injury sustained during the incident.Contrast that with the IndiGo Delhi-Srinagar flight of May 2025. By all accounts, it encountered turbulence at least as severe. The aircraft’s nose was damaged badly enough to require inspection, yet no passenger was hurt. The working assumption is simple: everyone on board was strapped in when the aircraft encountered turbulence.Strip away the details of any single flight, and a clear pattern emerges — one that India’s aviation ecosystem, including airlines, regulators and passengers, has been slow to confront.Turbulence is now the leading cause of in-flight injury worldwide, and the likelihood of encountering it is rising. Some of the airspace most frequently crossed by Indian carriers — including the Bay of Bengal and the pre-monsoon skies over the central and northern plains — lies directly in the path of that trend. India, which arguably has the world’s largest population of first-time flyers, needs to educate its passengers more aggressively.The US Federal Aviation Administration’s advice comes down to a few basic habits: keep your seat belt fastened whenever instructed, listen to the crew and follow carry-on restrictions so that loose baggage does not become a projectile.India’s experience over the past four summer and monsoon seasons underlines the narrow but crucial difference between the SpiceJet and IndiGo cases. Both flights encountered severe turbulence, but the outcome was markedly better on the IndiGo flight.The message is clear: keep your seat belt fastened even when the sign is off.Cumulonimbus turbulence appears in the cockpit as a magenta warning on the screen. Clear-air turbulence appears nowhere — until it strikes.As on the road, a fastened seat belt can make all the difference.

The incident occurred in a store room-cum-rest area for staffers

Mumbai: Three BEST bus mechanics were injured after a portion of a ceiling slab collapsed inside a storeroom allotted to a wet-lease contractor in the engineering department at Majas depot on Thursday, raising serious concerns over the structural safety of several ageing depot buildings across Mumbai. The incident occurred in a store room-cum-rest area for staffers.According to sources, one employee sustained serious injuries and required stitches, while two others suffered minor injuries and were discharged after receiving medical attention. The incident occurred during working hours and could have proved far more serious had more personnel been present inside the room at the time, sources said.A BEST spokesperson said the incident occurred at 6.45 a.m. when sections of plaster from the slab collapsed inside the facility used by the operator’s engineering department staff. The injured workers were identified as Riyan Shaikh (19), Salman Khan (23) and Mujamdin Khan (20). The spokesperson said the injured were treated at the hospital and are reported to be in stable condition. Further assessment of the affected structure is expected to be carried out to ensure safety and prevent any recurrence of such incidents, the spokesperson added.The mishap has triggered fresh criticism of BEST’s infrastructure maintenance practices, with Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee on the BEST committee, Nitin Nandgaonkar, demanding immediate accountability from the undertaking’s civil department. “Apart from demanding an immediate structural audit of all depots in Mumbai, I will demand suspension of officials from the civil department for negligence. Accountability must be fixed before a more serious tragedy occurs,” he said.Nandgaonkar said he had personally inspected several depots earlier this year and found many structures to be in poor condition. Following these visits, he wrote to the BEST administration in March seeking urgent intervention as severa depots required immediate repairs and some appeared structurally unsafe.Questioning the pace of repairs under BEST’s ongoing infrastructure modernisation and “Kayapalat” initiative, he said employees were being forced to work under unsafe conditions. “A depot is a workplace. Staffers should not have to fear for their lives while on duty. Are authorities waiting for such incidents to recur before acting?” he asked.The collapse has renewed demands for a city-wide assessment of BEST’s ageing depot infrastructure, with employee representatives and committee members calling for urgent repairs and safety certification of buildings used daily by thousands of workers and contractors.“Ends

The incident occurred in a store room-cum-rest area for staffers

Mumbai: Three BEST bus mechanics were injured after a portion of a ceiling slab collapsed inside a storeroom allotted to a wet-lease contractor in the engineering department at Majas depot on Thursday, raising serious concerns over the structural safety of several ageing depot buildings across Mumbai. The incident occurred in a store room-cum-rest area for staffers.According to sources, one employee sustained serious injuries and required stitches, while two others suffered minor injuries and were discharged after receiving medical attention. The incident occurred during working hours and could have proved far more serious had more personnel been present inside the room at the time, sources said.A BEST spokesperson said the incident occurred at 6.45 a.m. when sections of plaster from the slab collapsed inside the facility used by the operator’s engineering department staff. The injured workers were identified as Riyan Shaikh (19), Salman Khan (23) and Mujamdin Khan (20). The spokesperson said the injured were treated at the hospital and are reported to be in stable condition. Further assessment of the affected structure is expected to be carried out to ensure safety and prevent any recurrence of such incidents, the spokesperson added.The mishap has triggered fresh criticism of BEST’s infrastructure maintenance practices, with Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee on the BEST committee, Nitin Nandgaonkar, demanding immediate accountability from the undertaking’s civil department. “Apart from demanding an immediate structural audit of all depots in Mumbai, I will demand suspension of officials from the civil department for negligence. Accountability must be fixed before a more serious tragedy occurs,” he said.Nandgaonkar said he had personally inspected several depots earlier this year and found many structures to be in poor condition. Following these visits, he wrote to the BEST administration in March seeking urgent intervention as severa depots required immediate repairs and some appeared structurally unsafe.Questioning the pace of repairs under BEST’s ongoing infrastructure modernisation and “Kayapalat” initiative, he said employees were being forced to work under unsafe conditions. “A depot is a workplace. Staffers should not have to fear for their lives while on duty. Are authorities waiting for such incidents to recur before acting?” he asked.The collapse has renewed demands for a city-wide assessment of BEST’s ageing depot infrastructure, with employee representatives and committee members calling for urgent repairs and safety certification of buildings used daily by thousands of workers and contractors.“Ends

Mhada employee Sarika Lokhande, who started by applying under the EWS category in 2013, finally got lucky by winning a sprawling three BHK apartment under the HIG category in Magathane, Borivli. Pictured here with her husband

Mumbai: Mhada conducted its computerised lottery for 2,640 homes at Rangsharda Auditorium in Bandra at noon on Thursday. As their names flashed on screen, successful applicants received congratulatory messages from the housing board on their cellphones.The flats are located in Vikhroli, Goregaon, Magathane, Gorai, Chembur, Bandra, Ghatkopar, Girgaum, Wadala, Powai, Mazgaon, Powai, Dadar and Antop Hill.The exuberant winners who were present at the venue expressed happiness that their dream of owning a home in the city had been fulfilled. The first winner to come up was the elderly Dattu Sangle. “I have tried my luck at several Mhada lotteries. I retired from my job two years ago and grew to think I would never win a flat. Today, I feel one must keep the faith — it will happen, if not today then tomorrow.”Another lucky bidder, media executive Satyam Singh, said affordable public housing was a real need for people who cannot opt for expensive projects by private builders.Mhada employees benefited from a separate housing quota instituted for them. Deputy engineer Sarika Lokhande had been applying since 2013. She said, “I was unmarried then and as per my income I applied under the EWS category. I got married in 2019. Over the years as my income rose, I applied under LIG and MIG categories but never won. This year I applied under HIG — and today I have won a 1,300 sq ft 3 BHK apartment with beautiful grand balconies in Magathane, Borivli, at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore. I am so happy! My message to applicants is do not stop trying if small dreams fail. Maybe God has something bigger and better in store for you.”Another Mhada staffer Shubhangi Nikam, who is visually impaired, won two apartments, one in the Mhada employees’ category, the other in the disabled persons’ quota. “I will visit both locations and decide which to keep and which to surrender,” she said.CM Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CM Eknath Shinde were unable to attend the lottery due to other commitments but despatched messages of goodwill.Meanwhile, addressing the gathering, guardian minister for Mumbai suburban district Mangal Prabhat Lodha directed officials to take stringent action against developers who fail to hand over homes reserved for Mhada under applicable regulations. He stated that filing an FIR alone was not sufficient and, wherever necessary, such developers should be “sent to jail”.Minister of state for housing Pankaj Bhoyar, mayor Ritu Tawde as well as senior Mhada officials voiced their thoughts.

Protest is a way of dialogue, says RSS chief on Gen Z stir

MUMBAI: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat‘s interaction and comments over the recent student agitation, at the 15th anniversary of India’s International Movement to Unite Nations (IIMUN), a youth body, was seen as the first of Sangh’s outreach programmes aimed at Gen Z. “Protest is a way of dialogue. If a thing that you are saying is not heard, then you can protest. But it should be to create consensus not divide,” he said, adding “agitations should aim for system correction rather than targeting individuals.”Bhagwat advocated a hike in education budgets, better ties with Pakistan, and fewer bans on social media. He said the country’s development model needed to be altered to fight climate change. Backing demands for a hike in govt’s expenditure on education, he said, “6% spending of the budget is long pending.”When asked how India should regulate social media given that some nations were restricting access to children below 16, Bhagwat said he opposed prohibitions. “If you ban things they simply go into illegal market and are further proliferated.”The RSS chief said there was a need to uphold traditional family structures while creating space for same-sex relationships. He said while Indian society has a tradition of accommodating non-binary individuals, the traditional marriage framework must be unchanged. “We must not tamper with the vivaah system,” he said, but suggested that “a system should be created for them (same-sex relationships). A law should be made as to how they can stay together, this should not be mixed with marriage.“Discussing if dialogue should be maintained with Pakistan and China, Bhagwat said during conflict, citizens must align with govt directives, but long-term ties should not be permanently severed. “Pakistan was just a part of India less than 100 years ago. Pakistan, as a whole, is not the enemy of Indians.”Explaining the absence of women in the RSS apex decision-making body, Bhagwat said “the women’s body have themselves opted to remain independent and can join the main body whenever they choose to withdraw that mandate”.On economic disparities and employment, Bhagwat cited a societal lack of respect for manual work as the cause for intense competition for govt jobs despite shortages in other fields. “Our society has no dignity for labour, that’s why people run behind govt jobs,” he said. He said, “reservation will continue till society discriminates.”