Plea filed in Delhi HC by woman to stop friend from travelling abroad for euthanasia
New Delhi (PTI): A woman has approached the Delhi High Court seeking to stop her friend from travelling to Switzerland to undergo euthanasia on account of his debilitating inflammatory disease.
In her plea, the 49-year-old petitioner has sought a direction to the central government not to grant emigration clearance to her friend, in his late 40s and suffering from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, who is supposed to travel for the physician-assisted suicide.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a complex, debilitating, long-term neuro inflammatory disease and the petitioner's friend, who had the first symptom of the disease in 2014, is now completely bed bound and can only walk a few steps inside home , the plea informs.
The petitioner has stated that her friend was earlier receiving treatment at AIIMS but the same could not continue during the pandemic due to donor availability issues .
There are no financial constraints for providing respondent No.3 (petitioner's friend) with better treatment within India or abroad. But he is now adamant on his decision to go for euthanasia, which also affect the life of age old parents miserably. It is humbly submitted that there still persists a ray of hope for the betterment of his condition, said the plea filed through advocate Subhash Chandran KR.
The petitioner has thus further prayed for a direction to the Centre to constitute a medical board to examine the medical condition of her friend who has obtained the requisite visa for Switzerland on the "false" pretext of getting treatment, and also provide necessary medical assistance to him.
Petitioner herein most respectfully prayed that this Hon'ble Court may direct respondent No.1 (Ministry of External Affairs) to not to grant emigration clearance to respondent No.3 as he made false claims before Indian as well as foreign authorities for getting travel permissions; and also direct respondent No.2 (Ministry of Health) to constitute a medical board to examine the medical condition of respondent No.3 and provide necessary medical assistance by considering his peculiar health condition, the plea said.
The parents, family members and friends of the petitioner's friend would suffer an irreparable loss and hardship and will be going through an agonising moment if the prayers are not allowed, the plea said.
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SC issues contempt notice over scurrilous allegations against Telangana HC judge
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued contempt notices to a litigant and his lawyers for making "scurrilous allegations" against a sitting judge of the Telangana High Court in their plea.
The top court, while issuing the show cause notices to the petitioner and his lawyers, refused to allow withdrawal of the petition, and said, “We cannot permit judges to be out in a box and allow any litigant to make such allegations against a judge. Here we were trying to protect lawyers.”
A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing a transfer plea filed by petitioner N Peddi Raju filed through advocate-on-record Ritesh Patil.
The petition involved a case in which Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had received relief from a high court in a matter under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
“Here we were trying to protect lawyers, but this kind of conduct cannot be condoned,” the bench, which earlier heard another suo motu case pertaining to summoning of lawyers by the ED for rendering legal advice, said.
“Scurrilous allegations have been made against the sitting judge of Telangana High Court. It has been held (in a judgement) that it is not only a litigant but also a lawyer who signs (the petition) is guilty of contempt of court.
“We thus issue notice to Peddi Raju as well as the lawyers … and the AoR. They are directed to state why contempt should not be initiated against them. Notice returnable on August 11,” the CJI said.
A counsel sought the liberty to withdraw the remarks after the court expressed strong displeasure. However, the bench dismissed the request.
“File apology …we will see whether to consider or not. We will see the apology is genuine or not. When we expressed displeasure at the language, liberty was sought to withdraw. We dismissed the request,” the bench said.
The case stems from the Telangana High Court's decision to quash a criminal case registered against the chief minister under the SC/ST Act.
The petitioner later approached the top court with a transfer plea, alleging bias and impropriety on the part of the high court judge.
Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra appeared on behalf of the chief minister.
