New Delhi: Delhi BJP President Harsh Malhotra said on Sunday that the appearance of senior and highly paid lawyers, including MPs Kapil Sibal and Vivek Tankha, before the Delhi High Court to seek interim relief in the Sonam Wangchuk matter makes it evident that he is not an ordinary activist but a political pawn of the entire Opposition.
The Delhi BJP President said that the Delhi Police’s action to shift Wangchuk from Jantar Mantar to a hospital was in accordance with the High Court’s directions.
It was perhaps for the same reason that the High Court declined to grant any interim relief on the petition filed on behalf of Wangchuk.
Referring to the protest over the alleged NEET paper leak, Malhotra said that Wangchuk joined the hunger strike on June 28 in a demonstration sponsored by the Aam Aadmi Party, the Communist parties, and the Congress, even though the satisfactory re-examination of NEET had already been held on June 21.
This clearly demonstrates that the purpose of the hunger strike was not to raise students’ issues, but to disrupt the streets to Parliament during the Monsoon Session, said Malhotra.
The Delhi BJP President’s comments came on a day when AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia visited Wangchuk’s former protest venue at Jantar Mantar.
Wangchuk, who has been on an indefinite hunger strike since June 28 in support of students protesting over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examination, was shifted to Safdarjung Hospital on Saturday after his health deteriorated.
During the day, the High Court refused to pass any interim order on a plea filed by Wangchuk’s wife challenging his continued hospitalisation at Safdarjung Hospital.
The High Court observed that the government’s decision to shift him from the Jantar Mantar protest site in view of his deteriorating medical condition could not be termed arbitrary.
Issuing notice on the petition, a single-judge Bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna directed the Centre and other respondents, including the Delhi Police, to file their status reports within three days and posted the matter for further hearing on July 24.
In the order, Justice Pushkarna observed that since the government had decided to shift Wangchuk to the hospital on account of his medical condition, the action could not be said to be arbitrary.
The Delhi High Court further recorded that doctors at Safdarjung Hospital were closely monitoring Wangchuk’s health and that only oral medication had been administered with his consent.
(IANS)
