Activist Sonam Wangchuk’s health may turn critical within two days if he continues his indefinite hunger strike, which has already entered its 18th day, says a plea filed in the Delhi High Court.
The plea alleged that the government had been insensitive to his deteriorating condition and requested the court to take action urgently. The plea further asked for directions for providing medical intervention, which includes force-feeding if required.
Sonam Wangchuk is on a hunger strike with the demand of the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan ahead of the alleged irregularities in the NEET examination.
The plea will be heard by the Delhi High Court tomorrow.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia deferred the hearing on the PIL after no one appeared on behalf of the authorities. The lawyers did not appear due to ongoing work abstention called by the High Court Bar Association.
“Nobody is present on behalf of the Union of India. We are entertaining the petition. We will post the matter tomorrow itself and require them to seek instructions. We will ask the registry to file the order with the authorities today itself,” the Delhi High Court said.
The PIL, which has been filed by activist and lawyer Rakesh Kumar Saini, said that if Sonam Wangchuk continues with his hunger strike, he could end his life in two days, the Bar and Bench reported. The plea has asked the Center and the Delhi government to take Wangchuk to a hospital and force-feed him.
Following this, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Centre and the Delhi government asking for their stand on the plea by Thursday.
The petition comes ahead of Sonam Wangchuk losing 8.5 kg.
“The simple thing to be done is to take him to a government hospital and force-feed him the necessary nutrients, vitamins, and minerals by way of a liquid diet, which are necessary for the human body to survive,” the plea said.
The petition highlighted that if Sonam Wangchuk passes away, it will be a “great shame for the country and the world.”
“The simple thing to be done is to take him to a hospital and force-feed him the necessary nutrients, vitamins, and minerals by way of a liquid diet, which are necessary for the human body to survive,” the PIL highlighted.
“That it is highly shocking and condemnable that the Government of India and the Government of NCT Delhi do not seem to be concerned at all with this alarming and most unfortunate situation, wherein due to highlighting an important public cause and great concern regarding education and great concern to the student community in crores,” the PIL said.
