Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the state govt to pay Rs 22 lakh compensation to the wife and two children of a 52-year-old man who was killed in 2013 at Yerwada Mental Hospital in Pune by a violent fellow inmate.Justices Manish Pitale and Shreeram Shirsat said, “The admitted position on record shows that the state failed in its duty to take care and failed in its public duty, resulting in violation of fundamental rights…” They directed Rs 22 lakh be paid “towards monetary compensation for the loss of life” within eight weeks, after which it will attract 9% interest per annum.The deceased, a real estate agent suffering from schizophrenia, was admitted to Yerwada Mental Hospital on Nov 19, 2013. On Nov 21, 2013, his wife was informed that he and another patient were killed by an inmate the previous night. Through Right to Information, she learnt there was insufficient staff on duty. The family moved HC seeking Rs 29 lakh compensation, terming it a ‘custodial death’.The family’s advocate, Vrushali Maindad, requested compensation as paid for custodial deaths as there is no statute governing situations where a person loses life in a govt-run mental hospital due to negligence. She said the deceased’s son suffers from 90% mental disability.The judges noted the postmortem report revealed death was due to head injury and throttling. The deceased was in the “care and custody” of the hospital run by the govt. “It was the duty of the respondent-state to ensure safety of all the patients undergoing treatment in the said mental hospital by providing adequate facilities and staff,” they added. They noted as per State Mental Health Rules, there was a requirement of one attendant for every five patients. The state’s reply conceded there were only three attendants on duty that night for 72 patients in the observation ward. Besides, the hospital authorities “did not take care to ensure that violent patients like the said accused were segregated from other patients…”“We find there is gross negligence on their part as evident from admitted facts, requiring no further evidence in the matter,” they added.The judges agreed with amicus curiae advocate Mayur Khandeparkar that compensation as determined in motor accident claims can be the basis for awarding the petitioners’ monetary compensation. While calculating compensation at Rs 17 lakhs, they enhanced it by Rs 5 lakh for the “needs” of the deceased’s son considering he “is unable to earn independently” and his mother would have to take care of him “throughout her life.”
