Kerala High Court comes to the rescue of baby with cirrhosis

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has come to the rescue of a nine-month-old baby diagnosed with severe liver cirrhosis and in need of an urgent transplant. The court on Friday suo motu impleaded a Thiruvananthapuram-based private hospital and asked the Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner to monitor the situation and seek help from the Child Welfare Committee if needed.

A division bench comprising Justice C K Abdul Rehim and Justice Shaji P Chaly made the intervention after the child's father filed a habeas corpus petition arguing that because of matrimonial disputes, his wife was not treating their nine-month-old daughter.

The father, Basheer of Chovara, also alleged that his wife and her parents had misused the money collected from the public by giving advertisements in newspapers in the name of treatment.

Pursuant to a directive by the court, the Thiruvananthapuram police conducted an inquiry and informed that the petitioner and his wife Sajina N S were living separately because of severe matrimonial disputes. The police also informed that hospital authorities had advised the parents that the only curative therapy available was a liver transplant.

According to the petitioner, despite depositing a fee of Rs 5000 for getting a prospective donor and a sum of Rs 3 lakh at the hospital which he had obtained from the Chief Minsiter's Relief Fund, his wife as well as her father A Nazerudhin also of Thiruvananthapuram were not taking any steps to get the infant admitted in the hospital. The court also asked the State Bank of Travancore to file a report about the fund collected from the public by the parents.