Big decision of Delhi High Court regarding Sonam Wangchuk! After all, why was approval given to send Medanta Hospital from Safdarganj Government Hospital? Court order increased political stir.
Sonam Wangchuk: The ongoing movement in the country’s capital Delhi regarding education reforms and alleged irregularities in the NEET examination has now reached a new and very sensitive turn. Noted activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was on an indefinite hunger strike since June 28 in support of the online satirical movement ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ (CJP), was forcibly removed from Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Saturday (July 18). The government immediately admitted him to Safdarjung Hospital, after which this entire matter turned into a legal and political Kurukshetra. Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo alleged that her husband was illegally detained in a government hospital without any formal arrest.
The silence of the courtroom and the shocking statement of the Solicitor General
When the hearing of this case started before the bench of Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Tejas Karia on Tuesday (July 21), the atmosphere inside the court was very tense. On Sunday, Justice Mini Pushkarna of the single judge bench had clearly refused to transfer Wangchuk somewhere else, due to which the government’s morale was high. But the arguments of the petitioner before the Division Bench on Tuesday were so strong that even the government had to come on the backfoot. The biggest and shocking twist in the court came when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central Government, suddenly said that the government had no objection to removing Sonam Wangchuk from Safdarjung and shifting her to the country’s prestigious private hospital ‘Medanta’.
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Battle of ‘Informed Consent’: Was the right to choose treatment taken away?
Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo had raised a very serious and fundamental human rights issue in her appeal. She argued that the previous order keeping her husband at Safdarjung Hospital actually takes away a citizen’s right to decide about his treatment. The petition clearly stated that the right of every citizen under the law to give “informed consent” or to accept or refuse any medical treatment was completely trampled upon in this case. Considering the seriousness of the situation, the court had also summoned the in-charge director of AIIMS and the emergency doctors, and also took on record the blood analysis report done from Wangchuk’s private lab.
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Medanta’s ‘panel of special doctors’ and that historic order of 2:30 pm
As soon as the court proceedings resumed at exactly 2:30 after lunch, the judges gave their much-awaited verdict. Delhi High Court issued an order to immediately shift Sonam Wangchuk to Medanta Hospital. However, the court has also added a very strict condition. Accepting the arguments of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the court made it clear that Wangchuk will remain under complete medical supervision and he will not be discharged from the hospital without the advice and approval of a special panel of doctors at Medanta. Medanta has been directed to constitute a special panel of doctors for his treatment and take possession of all the medical reports of Safdarjung.
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This decision has come amidst the big movement of CJP which is adamant on demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. This court order has given a huge relief to Wangchuk and his supporters, but it remains to be seen what will be the fate of Wangchuk’s health and the future of the movement under the care of Medanta doctors.
What had the single bench judge said earlier?
Earlier, during the special hearing, the single bench had refused to interfere in the ongoing treatment at Safdarjung Hospital. The court had held that at that time there was no need to immediately shift the activist to any other hospital and the government’s decision to shift him from Jantar Mantar to the government hospital could not be called arbitrary.
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