Anadi Tewari
“We can only say that the State has failed in fulfilling its obligations of protecting the basic Fundamental Right i.e. Right to Life acknowledged in Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” remarked a division bench of Delhi High Court on being informed during the hearing that the brother-in-law of the lawyer (petitioner) appearing before the Court had passed away due to non-availability of an ICU bed.
The bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli on Friday (30 April) was hearing a batch of writ petitions with respect to the COVID-19 situation particularly concerning the scarcity of oxygen and availability of beds in the hospitals of the capital city.
The petition was preferred by Advocate Amit Sharma whose brother-in-law was in dire need of an ICU bed and had sought via this petition, intervention of the High Court for help in this matter.
During the course of hearing yesterday, the bench enquired the lawyer if the help in regard to the ICU bed was still needed. The lawyer went on to inform the Court that:
“The help isn’t needed anymore. He just passed away.”
“I have failed,” the concerned lawyer breaks down before the Court.
In continuation, Justice Vipin Sanghi orally remarked that “No the state has failed. We all have failed.”
The bench while condoling the death of the relative of Advocate Sharma went on to observe that:
“We’ve been informed during hearing that Counsel’s brother in law Mr Sharma has passed away. We only want to say that the state has failed in fulfilling its fundamental obligations of protecting the fundamental rights.”
The bench while disposing of the petition as infructuous recorded:
“23. During the course of the hearing, Mr. Amit Sharma, who has filed the said petition has informed us that the patient i.e. Mr. Atul Kumar Sharma has expired.. We can only say that the State has failed in fulfilling its obligations of protecting the basic Fundamental Right i.e. Right to Life acknowledged in the Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”
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