Delhi HC seeks report from Safdarjung Hospital on death of patient who jumped off roof

New Delhi [India], March 21 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Tuesday called for an additional status report in a matter related to death of a patient who allegedly jumped off from the roof of the hospital from a high security Covid isolation ward. It has been claimed by the authorities that the patient committed suicide.

The deceased was taken to Safdarjung Hospital by the Airport Authorities after his arrival from Australia on March 18, 2020. Earlier, he himself informed the airport authorities of having headache and taking a medicine for it.
However, the relatives of the deceased have alleged foul play in the death of the deceased Tanvir Singh.

Justice Prathiba M Singh called the report within two weeks from the Medical Superintendent on the aspect how many patients from the Airport were admitted to the hospital.

The bench also directed to conduct an internal inquiry on aspect that how the patient managed to go to the roof of the hospital from the isolation ward on 7th floor. The court also has asked to provide the details of the doctors, nurses and other staff present at the time of the incident.

The bench has directed the concerned SDM to produce the original inquest report. The matter has been listed on May 3, 2022.

Advocate Tushar Bathija argued that the deceased was admitted to the hospital at 9.05 PM and the time of his death is 9.12 PM. What happened in those 7 minutes.

On the other hand, it was stated by the authorities that the deceased escaped from the ward and reached at the roof while the admission procedure was going on.

The petitioner Sukhdev Singh has filed a written statement through advocate Abhimanyu Tewari and stated, “On 18.03.2020 Tanvir Singh aged around 23 years, the nephew of the Petitioner, along with his mother Harjinder Kaur, landed in India on 18.03.2020 at 5.20 PM at Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), New Delhi.”

As per records on March 18, 2020 Tanvir Singh was admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital at 9:05 PM. The time of death of the deceased is 09:12 p.m. Shortly thereafter, when the Petitioner and the mother of the deceased reached the hospital, they were informed that he had allegedly jumped off the building, leading to his death.

A reply dated January 27, 2021 of the Deputy Director (Admn.) Safdarjung Hospital, merely re-iterated that no foul play was found in the death of the deceased during the inquest proceedings, without averring to the specific queries of the Petitioner’s advocate relating to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased, the written statement reads.

It is also stated that the authorities have provided no record pertaining to the circumstances at the airport due to which the deceased was sent to Safdarjung Hospital.

Furthermore, no explanation of the circumstances have been provided by the Hospital how the deceased was able to escape from the high security Covid ward. Also, what were the circumstances in those 12 minutes that led Tanvir Singh to escape from the high security ward and commit suicide, the written statement submitted.

It is alleged that the complete lack of transparency and accountability of the Respondent Hospital with respect to the facts and circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased Tanvir Singh, is a violation of the rights of the Petitioner under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

The petitioner has prayed to issue a direction for constitution of an independent multi-level and multi-departmental enquiry to look into the circumstances of the death of Tanvir Singh, explore the probability and possibility of foul play, and further pin responsibility of negligence, if any, on appropriate officials. The petitioner had moved High court in 2021.