The Allahabad high court has ordered a judicial inquiry, to be conducted by retired judge Arun Tandon, into the death of woman lawyer Jagriti Shukla, who allegedly died due to medical negligence.
Hearing two public interest litigation (PILs) petitions alleging medical negligence leading to Shukla’s death, the court directed the lawyers not to stage road blockades and also instructed doctors not to go on a strike.
The bench comprising Justice Salil Kumar Rai and Justice Swarupama Chaturvedi passed the order on June 10 in the PILs filed by Amit Kumar Singh aka Sonu and Mamta Singh, related to the death of the advocate who had sustained serious injuries in a road accident and was admitted to Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital, Prayagraj, on May 20.
“It has been stated in the Public Interest Litigation petitions that the failure to give primary medical treatment to the injured Jagrati Shukla was not the first such incident in the hospital and it is a normal behavior of the doctors of the hospital,” the court said.
“We make no comments on the veracity of the allegations made in either of the first information reports. However, we do take notice that there was a general complaint amongst the public and is also reported in newspapers regarding the poor medical attendance being given to the patients in Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital. Reference has been made by the counsel to different Public Interest Litigation petitions filed and pending in this Court,” the court observed.
{{/usCountry}}“We make no comments on the veracity of the allegations made in either of the first information reports. However, we do take notice that there was a general complaint amongst the public and is also reported in newspapers regarding the poor medical attendance being given to the patients in Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital. Reference has been made by the counsel to different Public Interest Litigation petitions filed and pending in this Court,” the court observed.
{{/usCountry}}The petitioners alleged that the investigating agency was not conducting a fair probe. They have also alleged that the advocate’s death was caused by medical negligence and that attempts were being made to shield the medical personnel involved.
After hearing the parties concerned, the court ordered an enquiry into the matter while observing, “In this context, a legitimate suspicion does arise that the allegations that Jagrati Shukla, the deceased noted above, was not given the necessary medical treatment when she was brought to the medical hospital and the allegation that the advocates asking the doctors and other staff to provide them necessary medical treatment were manhandled and assaulted by the doctors may be true.”
In the matter, an FIR was lodged by a woman advocate, a member of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association, who had initially accompanied the injured lawyer (who later died) to the medical college after the accident.