At midnight hearing, court orders evacuation of 22 trapped in east Delhi hospital

In an urgent midnight hearing, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked police to ensure safe passage and emergency treatment to injured people stuck in north east Delhi’s Al Hind hospital.

The hearing, held at 12:30 am at the residence of Delhi HC judge Justice S Muralidhar, was attended by joint commissioner Alok Kumar and DCP (crime) Rajesh Deo. Delhi government counsel Sanjoy Ghose was also present at the hearing.

The matter was taken up on a call by advocate Suroor Mander, who said that several injured people at the Al Hind Hospital in the New Mustafabad area, were unable to be moved to the GTB hospital and needed urgent medical attention.

Mander, in her petition, sought safe passage of ambulance both to the Al Hind Hospital and from the hospital for the injured victims.

The doctor informed the judges that at the hospital, there are two dead and around 22 injured at the hospital, who were in need of assistance from Delhi police since 4 pm on Tuesday evening but no such help was made available.

The court was informed that the rioters were not allowing the ambulance to pass and since the situation is tense, the doctors wanted the police to help in the safe shifting of the patients from Al Hind hospital to GTB hospital.

The Court said that, at this stage, it is primarily concerned about ensuring the safety of lives of the injured and immediate medical attention.

The Court accordingly directed the Delhi Police to ensure such safe passage by deploying all the resources at its command and on the strength of this order and to ensure that apart from the safe passage, the injured victims receive immediate emergency treatment , if not at GTB, then at LNJP or Maulana azad or any other government hospital.

The court directed that a status report of compliance, including information about the injured victims and the treatment offered to them, be placed before this court later today when the matter is taken up for hearing at 2:30 pm.