'Our Heads Hang In Shame': Gujarat HC Takes Suo Motu Cognizance Of Pregnant Villager's Death Who Couldn't Reach Ambulance Due To Lack Of Road

"Our heads hang in shame and we are faint that we had to read a press clipping on the birth date of Mahatma Gandhi as well as Lal Bahadur Shashtri," said the Gujarat High Court on Thursday (October 3) while taking suo motu cognizance of news reports indicating that a pregnant woman who, after being "carried on a cloth stretcher" as there was no road, died on her way to the ambulance pickup point.

After taking suo motu cognizance of the news reports, a division bench of Justice Biren Vaishnav and Justice Nisha M Thakore, expressed its anguish at the "state of affairs" in the State and took note of the request made by the residents of the concerned village to the authorities for construction of a road.

Noting the proximity of the village (located on the banks of river Narmada) to the Statue of Unity, the court sought an explanation from the State's Chief Secretary and listed the matter on October 17. 

While orally dictating its order, the bench said, "News items have appeared in the Indian Express and the Divya Bhaskar which indicate that a tribal residing at Baskar Faliya in the tribal village of Turkheda in Chota Udepur, Udepur District's Kawant Taluka lost his wife. She was expecting. The villagers carried her on a cloth's stretcher, the news item indicates that they had to cover a distance of 5 kms to reach a pick-up point where 108 ambulances could arrive and take her to a primary health centre about 25 kms away for delivery. They had just covered a kilometre on the rocky terrain when (the woman) went into labor, delivered a baby-girl and breathed her last. The body was brought back to her home on the cloth-stretcher for final rites".

The report by the Indian Express published on its website is titled 'Tribal woman death: With no road to the village, pregnant woman carried in 'cloth stretcher' dies on way to ambulance after delivering baby'.

The court thereafter in its order said, "We understand from reading of the news item that for several years the villagers have been requesting the government to construct the road to the village. A tender was invited five years hence but nothing has been done. The village has no primary health centre, there no health facilities available nearby". 

The bench said that a reading of the reports indicated that this was the "third incident in the same village".

It further in its order noted, "The village is located in the banks of the Narmada and we can take judicial notice of the fact that on the banks Narmada, there is a developed area where the Statue of Unity stands. Unfortunately, because the health services did not arrive at the doorstep, the lady succumbed giving birth to a third child". 

It thereafter directed, "This is the status of affairs when we talk about equality and right to life in a developed state like Gujarat. We direct the Registrar Judicial to register this as a Suo-Motu PIL with a notice to the Chief Secretary of the State of Gujarat to explain and report to this Court on or before 17.10.2024 as to under what circumstances this tragedy occurred". 

The bench said that a report be filed before the "appropriate court" which takes up public interest litigation petitions and further called for furnishing a copy of the court's order to the Advocate General as well as theAssistant Government Pleader.

The bench said that the order shall also be furnished to the member Secretary of the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority with a request that through the District Legal Services Authority of the concerned district, for an "independent inquiry" as to the "needs of the family as well as the villagers in the context of the facilities" that are available to the concerned village. 

After dictating the order, the high court thereafter orally said, "We talk about development in the state, where a villager has to face this and the government says that we can't construct roads on the place where this village is situated but we can have tunnels on Jammu & Kashmir roads, on mountains, on hills. But, here this village doesn't have a road for the last 5 years. And at Narmada. We can take judicial notice of the fact, the learned Assistant Government Pleader, the last… about two months back when we went to a village in Rajpipla, it was very difficult for us to go through the terrain as an Executive Chairman of the Legal Authority. Get down to two kilometres and the road suddenly becomes wide enough because it's a Statute of Unity there.There are no ST buses which connect that road and the Statue of Unity is hardly 15 kms away from there. Most unfortunate. It really hurts us but we can't do anything. Imagine the plight of that father and the girl child is now critical".