Bombay HC asks hospital to not discharge Hany Babu till June 1

The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the Breach Candy Hospital here not to discharge Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu an accused in the Elgar ParishadMaoist links case till June 1 and sought a medical report on his condition and treatment given to himA vacation bench of Justices S S Shinde and N R Borkar said if the private hospital was to discharge Babu before June 1 then it shall first inform the court and take permissionBabu tested positive for Covid19 earlier this month and was initially brought from the Taloja prison in neighbouring Navi Mumbai to the governmentrun J J Hospital here He was later shifted to the GT Hospital in MumbaiAlso Read Bombay High Court permits Hany Babu to be shifted to Breach Candy HospitalHis wife Jenny Rowena subsequently filed a petition in the HC seeking interim bail and medical aid for himTheir counsel Yug Chaudhry had argued that Babu developed a severe eye infection and ran the risk of losing vision in his left eyeOn May 19 the HC permitted Babu to be shifted to the Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai for medical treatment at his own costOn Thursday Chaudhry sought an urgent hearing of the petition saying Babu should not be discharged from the hospital and sent back to jailFrom May 3 to May 12 the prison authorities systematically ignored his Babu complaint of eye infection Currently he is being treated at the Breach Candy HospitalldquoOur only request is he should not be discharged and sent back to jail on the ground that he does not require critical care anymore Chaudhry saidWhen the bench asked if Babus eye ailment was the new black fungus infection also known as mucormycosis Chaudhry said the hospital had checked but they Babus family or lawyer do not know whether it is a fungal infection or a bacterial infectionThe bench then said the hospital should submit to the court an interim report on Babus condition and the treatment provided to himThis mucormycosis is a serious infection that affects the life of a person This is very dangerous We need to find out if he is getting proper treatment Justice Shinde saidThe bench also noted that injections for this new postCovid19 ailment mucormycosis were available only at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC and staterun hospitalsToday we read somewhere that the BMC was now supplying the injections for black fungus to private hospitals too We need to know if the Breach Candy Hospital has those injections Justice Shinde saidThe court also said the state government and the National Investigation Agency NIA which is conducting a probe into the Elgar ParishadMaoist links case should not take this petition in an adversarial mannerThe hospital shall submit an interim report on the medical treatment been given to Hany Babu by June 1 Till then the hospital is requested not to discharge him If they do then this court should be informed and permission should be taken the HC saidThe bench will hear the matter next on June 1 Babu was arrested by the NIA in July 2020The Elgar Parishad case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at a conclave held in Pune on December 31 2017 which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the KoregaonBhima war memorial in the districtThe Pune police claimed the conclave was backed by MaoistsThe case was later taken over by the NIA Several other activists including Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao had been arrested in the caseThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever