The court was hearing a PIL, which cited the ordeal of a poor pregnant woman, probably a migrant, who was forced to deliver her child on a platform at Borivli railway station in January 2009 .
The state government on Thursday got an earful from the Bombay high court for “not protecting rights of poor migrants”.
The court was hearing a PIL, which cited the ordeal of a poor pregnant woman, probably a migrant, who was forced to deliver her child on a platform at Borivli railway station in January 2009 after being denied admission by two private clinics.
The PIL said Aariya Khan, a resident of Bhayander, went into labour pain in January 2009, but was denied admission by two private clinics as she did not have a below poverty line (BPL) identity card. Nor did she get proper treatment at the BMC-run Bhagwati Hospital.
“There are a lot of people who do not have identity cards. They come to big cities for work. They live on roads, platforms and pavements…” justice SC Dharmadhikari asked.
A division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice Dharmadhikari sought the medical records of Aariya. According to the PIL, Aariya and her baby were admitted to Bhagwati Hospital at Borivli, but two days after discharge, the baby died.
Deepika Desouza has filed the PIL, seeking a scheme to assist poor pregnant women who cannot afford entry fees at private hospitals. The petitioner’s lawyer, Gayatri Singh, said that Khan had approached two hospitals while in labour, but was turned away. She was treated for 14 days at Bhagwati Hospital, but her baby died just two days after they were discharged.
Aariya herself is not traceable now. MCGM lawyer Geeta Joglekar said that the woman had received proper treatment at Bhagwati, and her baby gained weight at the hospital. “But she failed to turn up for follow-up treatment after discharge,” Joglekar told the court.
The court said that a woman like Aariya, a migrant labourer, was not expected to return on her own. The petitioner has also sought implementation of Janani Suraksha Yojana, under which a woman from BPL category is given Rs600 during her first two deliveries.
Singh said such schemes should include women who have no document to prove their BPL status. The government contended that such aids can not be given if a woman has no identification. But the court disagreed.
Advocate Niranjan Pandit, appearing for the government, said that no pregnant woman had ever been denied entry into government hospitals for lack of documents. “But regular follow-ups can not be done without records,” he said. The hearing was adjourned till September 3.
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