SC turns on medical treatment to a Rohingya woman

Supreme Court on Tuesday in a big move in favour of Rohingya woman, has directed the administration to provide all required medical treatment to the petitioner Rohingya woman in agreement with medical advice tendered by the GB Pant and Ram Manohar Lohia hospitals.

The order was passed by a bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on August 21.

During the hearing, Aishwarya Bhati, Additional Solicitor General submitted the medical papers, including the treatment which has been afforded to the petitioner.

“In terms of the statement which has been made before this Court by the Additional Solicitor General, we direct that all requisite medical treatment shall be provided to the petitioner in accordance with medical advice tendered by the G B Pant Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital,” the court said.

The order further says, “In that view of the matter, it is only appropriate and proper that the petition before the High Court of Delhi is permitted to be revived as the issues raised in the present petition can be addressed before the High Court. We keep open all the rights and contentions of the petitioner in that regard. The petitioner would be at liberty to seek interim directions before the High Court of Delhi.”

Here’s what the petition said:

In order to care for her little child, a lady petitioned the court for her sister, a Rohingya refugee, to be released from the detention facility at Shahzada Bagh. Advocates Ujjaini Chatterji, Vanya Gupta, and T Mayura Priyan spoke on behalf of the petitioner.

The petition claims that the petitioner’s younger sister, a Rohingya refugee with a UNHCR refugee identity card, has been held indefinitely at the detention facility known as ‘Sewa Kendra’ in the Shahzada Bagh neighbourhood of northwest Delhi.

The petitioner claimed that her sister has no criminal records.  She further mentioned that her sister is nutritionally inadequate and unhygienic diet at the detention centre. Citing the poor conditions, she added that her sister has a right to health, dignity, and humane treatment in the detention centre.