The Delhi high court on Sunday said activist Sonam Wangchuk need not be shifted out of a government hospital at this time, after his wife Gitanjali J Angmo filed a plea seeking permission to immediately shift him from Safdarjung Hospital to a private facility instead.
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The court said it had to see “a larger picture”.
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“Wangchuk is not in detention, but the wife, brother and brother-in-law have been given access,” Justice Mini Pushkarna noted. In the order, the court said, “Every life is precious,” and noted that family members of Wangchuk have been given a separate room and are able to spend time around him. “Considering this, no interim order is required to be passed at this stage,” the judge said, seeking a status report on his health in three days and setting July 24 as the next date of hearing.
Wangchuk was on Saturday taken forcibly to Safdarjung Hospital by the Delhi Police on the 21st day of his hunger strike. He has been on an indefinite hunger strike since June 28 in support of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led protest demanding education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over irregularities in the NEET medical entrance examination and other issues.
In her plea, Angmo said she “lost faith” in the government hospital and wanted to move the activist to a private facility of her choice before his health deteriorates. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for her, argued in court, “The hospital is not been giving access to his own doctors, lawyers; and they do not know what he is being prescribed.”
The court, however, said, “Considering the overall perspectives, this court is of the view that since the govt has taken the decision to shift Mr Wangchuk to hospital on account of medical condition, this court does not find the same to be an arbitrary action.”
Since the doctors at Safdarjung Hospital are closely monitoring his health and have given him oral supplements as per his consent, “it cannot be said that any force is being used against Wangchuk”, the court noted.
The judge further said, “Considering the fact that he in his own violation did not check himself to any hospital, the government was within its right to take such action.”
What govt argued
During the hearing, asked by the judge what “compelled” the police to take Wangchuk away from the site, additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma, appearing for the government, said Wangchuk’s health was deteriorating after 18 days of fasting “in this weather”.
“This leads to syndrome known as ketosis. It may or may not reflect on parameters but it can lead to something known as a shock. If potassium goes down, it can lead to — there is an expression — hypokalemia,” he argued.
He also said a high court bench’s earlier order to monitor his health had guided the action taken.
“He should, like any other individual in this country, have complete faith in doctors (at the government hospital),” the Centre’s lawyer remarked, suggesting that he could be shifted to AIIMS, the premier government hospital “where the President of India takes treatment too”.
The ASG further argued, “They have no reason, whatsoever to have any sort of manner of doubt in the remotest possible corner of their brain. He has been taken care of, but he must cooperate with the attending doctors.” On the question of access, the ASG said his wife has 24×7 access.
A government doctor explained to the court, “We have been treating him; monitoring him closely. He started oral fluids yesterday. He took potassium orals yesterday, [and] oral ORS without sugar. We have been trying to talk to him for [intravenous or IV] fluids. He has denied it.”
‘I want treatment of my choice’
At this, Sibal argued, “He is not in detention; [there is] no case against him. Is a citizen of India not entitled to say ‘I want to go to hospital of my choice’?” As for the earlier HC order, Sibal said that was passed without Wangchuk’s side even being a party in the case.
“I want treatment, but I want a treatment of my choice,” Sibal said, speaking for his client.
Wangchuk’s wife has argued that, despite repeated requests, “the hospital has refused to discharge him or allow us to shift him to a private hospital of our choice”.
She has claimed, “With around 30 police personnel stationed on our floor and well over 100 across the hospital, our movement is severely restricted. It is not medical care. It is illegal detention… No family should have to fight the system simply to choose where their loved one receive medical care.”
What Angmo’s petition said
The writ petition sought a declaration that Wangchuk’s continued confinement at Safdarjung Hospital is unconstitutional, and prayed for his immediate discharge and transfer to a hospital of his and his family’s choice.
It also sought unrestricted access to him for his lawyers and doctors who had been treating him during the hunger strike, besides a direction restraining authorities from administering any medical treatment without his informed consent or, if he is unable to consent, without the consent of his wife.
Angmo expressed “dire concern” over her husband’s health and argued in her petition that the government hospital authorities disclosed “only selective information” to her. She said their refusal to let Wangchuk shift to another hospital has prevented an “independent verification of his medical condition”.
She also pleaded that she was aggrieved by the “clandestine and completely opaque nature” of the medical intervention, despite Wangchuk’s vital parameters being stable when he was removed from the protest site.
“There existed no medical emergency or other circumstance warranting such abrupt and coercive intervention. The forcible removal was neither medically necessitated nor legally justified and constitutes a manifest infringement of Shri Sonam Wangchuk’s fundamental rights,” the petition filed through lawyers Bahuli Sharma, Susan Maria Mathew, Ridhi Arora, Suryaansh Kishan Razdan and Yoshit Jain stated.
She noted that the high court’s July 16 order to authorities — to monitor Wangchuk’s health and medically intervene, if necessary — was passed ex-parte (in the absence of Wangchuk or any representative), and that the police forcibly removed him from the Jantar Mantar portest site by taking “colourable advantage” of the HC directions.
Potassium levels
The plea also alleged that there is a discrepancy in Wangchuk’s potassium levels in the test done by Safdarjung Hospital and by “an independent agency at the behest of the Petitioner (Angmo)”.
“The respondents furnished the blood sample to the petitioner at 10:30 pm after an unexplained delay of nearly 10.5 hours (on Saturday). As apprehended by the petitioner, results of the tests conducted on these samples indicate a potassium level of 3.6 mg, much higher than the earlier disclosed level of 2.9 mg. This clearly reveals a significant discrepancy in test results provided by the respondents as compared to the tests conducted by an independent agency at the behest of the petitioner… The mala fide conduct of the respondents is thus evident from the results,” the petition submitted.
“The petitioner is, therefore, constrained to approach this Hon’ble Court seeking appropriate directions to secure unrestricted access to Shri Sonam Wangchuk by doctors who had been examining him for the last 20 days and his legal counsel; to permit his transfer to a hospital of the petitioner’s choice and allow independent medical examination and treatment by doctors and diagnostic centres of the petitioner’s and/or Shri Sonam Wangchuk’s choice; and to direct the respondents to immediately discharge/release Shri Sonam Wangchuk from his continued involuntary hospitalisation at Safdarjung hospital,” the plea further stated.
In a post on her X handle on Sunday, Angmo said no family should have to fight the system to choose where their loved one receive medical care and that the public health bulletin released by Safdarjung “conveniently omitted” the actual number with respect to his potassium level.
(with PTI inputs)
