COVID+ Man Dies Allegedly After Jumping From Safdarjung Hospital's Roof: Delhi High Court Seeks 5-Point Report From Hospital

Dealing with a petition related to a case wherein a 23-year-old boy (Tanveer Singh), who arrived from Australia at the Delhi Airport in March, 2020 and passed away shortly after being taken to the Safdarjung Hospital upon arrival, the Delhi High Court on Friday (May 21) sought a five-point report from the Safdarjung Hospital.

The Bench of Justice Rekha Palli directed the Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital to file a comprehensive report within a period of three weeks, specifically dealing with the following aspects:

• What was the exact time, as per the respondent Hospital, when late Tanveer Singh was taken to the COVID isolation ward?
• How many patients were in the COVID isolation ward when late Tanveer Singh was taken there?
• How many staff members were present in the COVID isolation ward to look after the patients?
• Since the COVID isolation ward was purportedly situated on the 7th floor of the Hospital's building, whether any staff member had accompanied late Tanveer Singh at the time he was being sent to the isolation ward?

Petitioner's submissions

The counsel for the Petitioner submitted that immediately upon landing in India, without any communication or cogent reasons being communicated to the mother, who was travelling with the deceased, the deceased was shifted to the Safdarjung Hospital.

His mother, however, was not even taken for screening or detention.

Thereafter, the deceased's mother was informed that at about 9:00 pm on 18th March, 2020, the deceased had been taken to the Safdarjung Hospital and within a few minutes thereafter, the deceased had jumped from the roof of the Safdarjung Hospital, leading to his death.

Court's observations

The Court had, in February 2021, observed thus:

There appear to be no reasons communicated to the family or to the mother, who was a co-passenger, as to why the deceased was being taken to Safdarjung Hospital. It is also not clear from the copy of the post-mortem report as to what the medical condition of the Petitioner was when he was admitted into the Safdarjung Hospital.

Case title - Sukhdev Singh v. Union Of India [W.P.(C) 2604/2021]

Click Here To Download Order

Read Order