It was a midnight hearing by the Delhi High Court, that made it possible for ambulances to reach violence-affected areas in North East Delhi.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday, 26 February, directed police to ensure safe passage and emergency treatment for those injured in the violence over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, PTI reported.
The Bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Anup J Bhambhani directed the Delhi Police to deploy all resources to ensure this. The hearing reportedly took place at the residence of Justice Muralidhar on an urgent plea.
The Bench also called for a compliance report, including information about the injured and the treatment offered to them. The matter will now be heard on Wednesday at 2:15 pm.
The Bench said the order be communicated to the medical superintendents of the Guru Tegh Bahadur and Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan hospitals in Delhi.
What Led to the Midnight Hearing?
Besides GTB Hospital in Dilshad Garden, most of the people injured in the riots were being taken to Al Hind hospital in Mustafabad. But rioters had surrounded all the access roads to the hospital.
Dr Harjit Singh Bhatti of the Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum was trying to reach Al Hind hospital in an ambulance, but he was prevented from doing so.
According to Dr Bhatti, rioters even attacked the driver of an ambulance sent by the Delhi government.
Shaleen Mitra, who works with Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendar Jain also confirmed that government ambulances were being prevented from reaching Al Hind hospital.
It was then that a group of activists led by Rahul Roy, through advocates Suroor Mander and Chirayu Jain, approached the Delhi High Court.
Justices Muralidhar and Bhambhani conducted the hearing at 1 AM on Wednesday morning under the orders from seniormost judge of the HC Justice GS Sistani.
The court directed Delhi Police, “to ensure such safe passage by deploying all the resources at its command and on the strength of this order and to ensure that apart from the safe passage, the injured victims receive immediate emergency treatment, if not at the GTB Hospital, then at the LNJP Hospital or Maulana Azad or any other government hospital”.
The number of deaths following communally charged violence in northeast Delhi rose to 17 on Wednesday according to a Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital official, ANI reported.
Police on Tuesday struggled to check the rioters who ran amok on streets, burning and looting shops, pelting stones and thrashing people.
Taking account of the widespread violence, the National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik reached Seelampur area on Tuesday night. The two had a meeting with DCP Northeast to discuss ways to restore normalcy in the region.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
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