New Delhi:
Activist Sonam Wangchuk has agreed to end his three-week-old hunger strike if two of his conditions are fulfilled, his wife, Gitanjali Angmo, announced on Sunday, hours after the Delhi High Court declined permission to move him from the government-run Safdarjang Hospital to a private facility.
Wangchuk, who has been demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over the recent NEET question paper leaks, will end his hunger strike on Monday if political leaders meet him and assure him that accountability in education will be raised in Parliament during the Monsoon Session, which starts tomorrow.
On Saturday morning, the Delhi police forcibly removed Wangchuk from Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and shifted him to the hospital.
A bench led by Justice Mini Pushkarna ruled this afternoon that the government was well within its rights to shift him since he did not admit himself to hospital despite his failing health.
“No interim orders are required to be passed at this stage,” she stated.
Angmo had vowed she would challenge the order before a bench of two judges, senior advocate Vivek Tankha told NDTV.
“Since doctors of the hospital are closely monitoring him and gave him oral medicine with his consent, it cannot be said that force is being used or his autonomy is being violated,” Justice Pushkarna said.
The court also observed that the government’s decision to shift him could not prima facie be termed arbitrary and did not infringe his personal liberty.
Angmo wanted to shift him to Medanta Hospital in Gurugram, contending that Wangchuk had been admitted to Safdarjung Hospital without his or his family’s consent. Her plea also argued that he was being confined against his wishes.
The Central government submitted to the court that his health had worsened due to the prolonged fast and his dwindling health parameters.
Referring to a division bench order dated July 16, in which the authorities were directed to monitor his health and intervene if needed, the high court observed that the government shifted him to the hospital in compliance with those directions.
