‘Has he vanished into thin air’: SC rebukes UP govt on missing Covid patient

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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court pulled up the Uttar Pradesh Police and state administration over its inability to trace an 82-year old Covid patient who went missing from a hospital in Prayagraj more than a year ago and its “habit” not to comply with the Allahabad high court’s directions.

“It has become a habit with you. You (state) don’t comply with the directions (of the high court) and in the last minute when contempt is sought, you approach this court,” a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana observed on Friday.

The bench, also comprising justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli, however, agreed to stay the high court’s order of April 25 directing eight state officials, including two additional chief secretaries, to remain personally present in the high court on Friday.

The high court’s directive was issued on a habeas corpus petition filed by Rahul Yadav, son of the retired junior engineer Ram Lal Yadav, who was admitted to the Tej Bahadur Sapru hospital on May 4, 2021.

By May 7, the man’s oxygen level dangerously dipped to 68% following which he was shifted to the hospital’s trauma centre. This was the last the family heard from the hospital about him. The 82-year-old was neither discharged nor was his body handed over to the family.

Eventually, his son approached the high court alleging that the hospital had caused the disappearance of his father.

The Supreme Court bench noticed that the high court took up the habeas corpus petition filed by the man’s son on 16 occasions but nothing was forthcoming from the police or the state officials.

Uttar Pradesh government’s senior law officer, additional advocate general (AAG) Garima Parshad told the court that the state took all possible steps to trace the retired junior engineer but did not succeed.

She said the police made enquiries, checked the nearest morgues to ascertain whether he died, and even released his colour advertisement on television to trace him but got no breakthrough.

The judges asked the state’s law officer: “Has he vanished into thin air. How can he be missing? His oxygen level was 68, he was unable to walk, where will the body go?”

The UP government’s law officer said the state suspended all the doctors, removed nurses and took disciplinary action against those responsible. She pointed out that the CCTV records were sent for forensic examination but half of them were found to be not working. Following this, corrective steps were also taken, she added.

The bench asked the state to look at it from the family’s perspective.

“Imagine the family’s desperation. It has been one year he has been missing. Consider the agony of the family,” the bench said as it stayed the high court’s order..

The eight officials who were ordered by the high court to be present in the court on Friday were principal secretary, additional chief secretary (home), additional chief secretary (health), Director General, Medical and Health, district magistrate of Prayagraj, Superintendent of Police, chief medical officer of Prayagraj and chief medical superintendent of TB Sapru hospital.

The top court told the state to deposit 50,000 within four weeks to pay for the family’s legal expenses and asked the government to see if some reasonable compensation could be paid to the family.

But the state’s law officer argued that while there is Covid compensation for those who died but the money from this provision could not be paid in this case since there is no authentication that he is dead. The officer, however, added that the state will pay if the court directs. The matter will now be heard after four weeks.

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