When the Delhi high court, which is a constitutional court, was approached in the face of the gross denial of the right to life, its job was to ensure that the state was taking all necessary action to respect, protect and fulfil that right. Given the urgency of the situation, a bench of Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani was constituted past midnight on Tuesday (at 12:30 am on February 26) to respond to the humanitarian crisis at Al Hind Hospital in New Mustafabad. A special hearing was conducted in the presence of the Alok Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police, Rajesh Deo, DCP (Crime), and Sanjoy Ghose, Standing Counsel for the government of the NCT of Delhi and Delhi Police. The Order dated 26.02.2020 in the case “Rahul Roy v. GNCTD” [later given the case number WP (Crl) No. 566 of 2020] explains that Dr. Anwar of Al Hind Hospital had reported over speaker phone that two people were dead and 22 people critically injured at the hospital and they needed police help for ambulances to have safe passage to and from the hospital since they lacked the facilities to treat the injured. Dr. Anwar also said that he had been trying to seek police help since 4 pm but without success. Medical services have a special status in human rights law. The Law of Armed Conflict under International Law requires that even in the time of armed conflict, there can be no interference with the ability of medical professionals to provide medical treatment to injured civilians. Article 21 of the Indian constitution guarantees the right to life to all persons in India. The Court, acting in furtherance of its duties to safeguard these rights, passed the following order: The Court at this stage is primarily concerned with ensuring the safety of the lives fo the injured and immediate medical attention that they require and for that purpose to ensure the safe passage of the injured victims to the nearest available government hospitals. The Court accordingly directs the Delhi Police to ensure such safe passage by deploying all the resources at its command and on the strength of this order 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 matter was then directed to be listed before the same special bench at 2.15 pm for a status report of compliance to be reviewed and further action.

Explained: What the 3 Orders by Justice Muralidhar Meant for the Delhi Riots