The Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed activist Sonam Wangchuk, who is on hunger strike in solidarity with the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) student protest, to be shifted to a hospital of his choice. (Gitanjali Angmo v. Union of India).
A Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said,
"What we propose to do is get him shifted to the hospital of his choice, that is Medanta. He will be treated by the Medanta doctor. All the treatment details at Safdarjung Hospital will be supplied to Medanta immediately and he will be treated there. A panel of doctors to be formed by the director Medanta."
The Court said that it would pass an order after the lunch break.
Appearing for Angmo, Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal submitted a letter by the doctor who had been treating Wangchuk at the time of protest. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma, appearing for the Central government, also handed over documents.
After going through the medical reports sworn on affidavit, Justice Karia noted that Wangchuk's potassium levels had dipped.
As the Court persused the reports, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, also appearing for the Centre, stated,
"Clinical observation is generally more acceptable than the reports."
Addressing a doctor present in court, the Chief Justice asked,
"What about the raised urea and uric acid levels? The raised acid isn't it an indication of some malfunctioning?"
The doctor replied,
"When we are not taking glucose, then the energy source is fat. So due to the breakdown of fat, there are ketones in the urine. After the days of fasting, these changes are natural."
When one of the doctors who was monitoring Wangchuk throughout his hunger strike began informing the Court of his credentials, SG Mehta intervened,
"You are only supposed to help the court on medical, not assist the petitioner."
ASG Sharma then told the Court,
"There is one alarming fact. In their report, the TLC, doctor says is "critical" it can lead to shocks. All the treating doctors are here."
The Court then called upon the doctor from AIIMS, who said,
"This shows that the WBCs are low. That is not normal. When the immunity is low, WBC gets low. The haemoglobin, WBC, platelets are not in normal range."
The AIIMS Director, who was also present in court, said,
"There is no doubt that the potassium is on the lower side. The individual concern is actually taking potassium replacement by mouth. So there is intervention going on. His ability to mount a response to a potential infection would be significantly impaired, and that's why at the moment within the hospital, people who are allowed to go and meet him are supposed to be fully gowned, capped and masked."
Sibal then argued,
"Today, the situation remains that his vitals are stable. There are some parameter changes, undoubtedly. Monitoring is what is being proposed. Monitoring can continue. There's no difficulty."
Sibal submitted a letter from Wangchuk stating that his phone was taken away from him, people were not allowed to visit him and that those allowed are subjected to searches and surveillance.
The Court opined,
"After going through these reports, though we are not experts, after interacting with the doctors, what we understand is that there is a consensus that constant monitoring is needed. We propose to shift him to Medanta, the hospital of his choice."
SG Mehta said that the government had not objection to the shifting.
"Only thing is, that he may not get a discharge against medical advice. Those who are around him want him out, irrespective of his health," he said.
However, the Court replied,
"We will not go into all that. Do no drag the court into all that."
The Division Bench was hearing an appeal filed by Angmo challenging a single-judge's refusal to direct that Wangchuk be shifted from Safdarjung Hospital to Medanta Hospital in Gurugram.
The Court had on Monday asked the director of Safdarjung Hospital to file all details including pathological reports of Wangchuk based on samples analysed at three different hospitals - Safdarjung Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and a private laboratory.
Further, it had directed Angmo to file the medical reports cited by her. It had also ordered the doctors involved to be present in court on Tuesday for the hearing.
Wangchuk began an indefinite hunger strike at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on June 28, in solidarity with the youth-led "Cockroach Janta Party" movement, demanding accountability for repeated examination paper leaks and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
On July 18, the Delhi police removed him from the protest site and shifted him to Safdarjung Hospital on concerns about his health condition.
However, the following day, Angmo moved the Delhi High Court seeking permission to transfer him to a private hospital, alleging that his family had lost faith in Safdarjung Hospital due to a lack of transparency over his treatment and medical reports. Her counsel contended that he was being kept there under conditions amounting to illegal detention.
On July 19, a single-judge of the High Court prima facie found that the government’s decision to shift Wangchuk from the site of his hunger strike at Jantar Mantar to Safdarjung Hospital was not arbitrary. The Court, therefore, declined to grant any interim relief on Angmo's plea for Wangchuk's shift out of Safdarjung hospital.
Angmo then filed the present appeal challenging the single-judge's decision.
The appeal said that the single-judge's order effectively takes away Wangchuk’s right to determine the course of his medical treatment and places the ultimate authority with the medical team attending to him.
According to the petition, right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution includes the right of a competent adult to refuse medical treatment and to choose the hospital where such treatment is received. Wangchuk's continued hospitalisation at Safdarjung without consent violates his personal liberty, bodily autonomy and right to protest, the plea said.
Two days before Wangchuk was shifted from Jantar Mantar, a Division Bench of the High Court had directed the government to regularly monitor his health and take whatever medical intervention was required to check his deteriorating condition.
However, neither Wangchuk nor Angmo was a party to those proceedings, Angmo's appeal pointed out. Further, the July 16 order only permitted medical monitoring and did not authorise Wangchuk’s forcible removal from the protest site or his continued confinement at a government hospital, it was argued.
