The Bombay High Court gave a man two weeks’ time after he allegedly abandoned his 76-year-old mother at a hospital in Mumbai, an act for which an FIR had been filed against him.
The Bombay High Court on Monday granted two weeks’ time to a man who abandoned his 76-year-old mother at a hospital in Mumbai’s Bandra area against whom an FIR was also registered.
A bench of Justices AS Gadkari and RR Bhonsale also sought suggestions as to what steps can be taken in the case. During the hearing, the bench pertinently asked the lawyers how the woman was doing and if her son, Amit Puri, was taking care of her now.
The bench on November 17, directed the son, who had run up a bill of over Rs 16 lakh at the Holy Family Hospital to pay, and with his consent and under his supervision, his mother be shifted to the ICU of Bhabha Hospital. The shifting was to be done by the son before 9 am on November 18.
However, advocates Yogesh Naidu, Wesley Menezes and Anukul Seth, appearing for the hospital, informed the court that the man, instead of transferring his mother, sent them a mail seeking time. However, the woman was shifted to the civic hospital and is reportedly doing fine.
Additional Public Prosecutor Ashish I Satpute, appearing for the state government, told the court that a FIR was registered against the man for abandoning his mother under the Senior Citizen Welfare Act and allegedly threatening a doctor and violating the High Court order.
Satpute pointed out that Puri did not assist in the transfer of his mother to Bhabha Hospital, stayed away and did not pay charges for the shifting and medicines, and other treatment charges as per the hospital policy.
Furthermore, the court had directed Puri to furnish an affidavit with details of all the properties, both movable and immovable, owned and possessed by his mother. He had not done the same and instead, advocate Roop Jain appeared through video conferencing for him and the court directed him to appear in person.
Satpute submitted that Puri had appeared before the Senior Citizen Welfare Tribunal and sought time to reply to the hospital’s plea, saying he “arrogantly said that he was challenging the Bombay High Court order.”
Puri has been blaming the Holy Family Hospital for negligence in treating his mother. He has filed complaints and had allegedly created a lot of chaos. The hospital had approached the High Court, alleging that he was not discharging and taking his mother home and was later only communicating through emails and legal notices.
The hospital alleged that the woman caught hospital-borne infections thrice because Puri had not discharged her from hospital, while she was fit to be taken home where she could be cared for in a better way.
