Sonam Wangchuk’s wife has once again moved the Delhi High Court bench against the order of a single judge who refused to allow her to shift the activist from Safdarjung Hospital to a private hospital.
The petition will be mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia at 10:30 am, for urgent listing. Track updates on the Jantar Mantar protest on July 20 here
A single bench, Mini Pushkarna, in a special session on Sunday, refused to immediately allow Gitanjali to shift the activist to a private hospital, stating that the government’s decision to admit Wangchuk to Safdarjung had been taken in view of his medical condition and could not be termed as “arbitrary”.
What Gitanjali says in her petition
In her petition, Gitanjali contends that the impugned order fails to address the issue of informed consent and does not deal with the argument that the right to medical treatment necessarily includes the autonomy of the individual to partially accept or completely reject any medical intervention. It further asserts that the Order, in fact, unlawfully restrains and restrains Mr. Sonam Wangchuk within the premises of Safdarjung Hospital, without any formal order for his arrest or detention, thereby unlawfully depriving him of his personal liberty.
“The final decision regarding the assessment of Mr. Sonam Wangchuk’s medical condition will be made by the medical team treating Mr. Sonam Wangchuk, who will make the appropriate decision in accordance with strict medical protocols to protect Mr. Sonam Wangchuk’s life and ensure his safety,” the impugned order states. The medical team must constantly monitor Mr. Sonam Wangchuk’s vital organs. “Therefore, the impugned order effectively abrogates the appellant’s fundamental rights to bodily autonomy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” the petition said.
“The impugned order records that the petitioner has not been named in any criminal proceedings and that there is no detention order against him. However, the impugned order grants an absolute order that Ms. Sonam Wangchuk be illegally detained at Safdurjung Hospital and allows food to be served without the consent of Ms. Sonam Wangchuk,” he added.
The petition further added that the manner in which the defendants took her husband Wangchuk in front of a crowd of people at Jantar Mantar was intended to frustrate his right to protest. It is clear that her action is also intended to create a chilling effect within the entire community of supporters who have been at the protest site for more than one month.
“The impugned order describes this act as non-arbitrary. It is recognized that taking an individual away from the location he has chosen without his consent or any sign of deteriorating health in this case, is one of the most arbitrary actions that the state can take. This arbitrariness is aggravated by the fact that he is not allowed to move out of the location chosen by the government despite his next of kin as well as the individual asserting their constitutional rights,” he added.
Wangchuk, who has been on an indefinite hunger strike in Jantar Mantar for 21 days over national examination irregularities, was taken to Safdarjung Hospital by Delhi Police on Saturday morning. While police said the move was aimed at monitoring his health condition in line with court directions, opposition parties accused the Center of using force against a peaceful protest and questioned the timing of the action, a day after the appointment of the New Delhi Police Commissioner.
The BJP defended the police actions, saying they were taken to protect Wangchuk’s health.
Supporters said Wangchuk was forcibly removed, sparking an uproar at the protest site, during which they were allegedly charged with lathi and Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijit Debke was briefly detained.
