SC asks Centre to reconsider excluding suicide from Covid-19 death certificate

Going through compliance affidavit filed by the Centre, the bench said there are some grey areas that have to be looked into

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to reconsider its guidelines that excluded suicides from Covid-19 death certificates, which are mandatory for granting ex-gratia compensation to the kin of the victims.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and A S Bopanna told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, "You have specifically stated that irrespective of the fact that the person who had Covid and (he or she) has committee suicide will not be entitled to such certificates. This needs to be revisited."

Mehta agreed to look into the concerns raised by the court, saying, "The cause of death will be suicide but the reason will be Covid-19."

Going through compliance affidavit filed by the Centre, the bench said there are some grey areas which have to be looked into.

"We have gone through your counter-affidavit, it seems to be okay. However there are two-three things. What about the persons who committed suicide while they were suffering from Corona," the bench said.

The court also asked how the states would implement the policy issued by the Union government.

"What about the certificates that have already been issued and the family members have a dispute with regards to the cause of action and also what about the documents provided by the Hospitals. Also tell us about when will the committee at district level be constituted and what are the documents that are to be submitted by the family members before the committee," the bench asked.

Also read: Centre submits fresh guidelines in Supreme Court on Covid-19 death certificates

"On reading the compliance report, it appears that there are some issues that are to be considered and re-considered and there are some creases that are to be ironed out," the bench added.

The court also said 80 per cent of the problems have been solved in the matter.

On Saturday, the government submitted its guidelines through an affidavit in compliance to the apex court's order issued on September 3 following a judgement passed on June 30 on petitions filed by advocates Reepak Kansal and Gaurav Kumar Bansal.

The guidelines issued jointly by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Indian Council of Medical Research stated that loss of life due to poisoning, suicide, homicide, or accident will not be considered as Covid-19 deaths even if the disease is an accompanying condition.

On Monday, Bansal, who had moved the plea for compensation, said that guidelines excluding the death by suicide as Covid-19 death, was irrational, illogical and unreasonable, and discriminatory.

Citing a Nimhans research paper, as well as the National Mental Health Policy issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, he submitted that even Nimhans terms suicide of person who is Covid positive as Covid-19 suicide, therefore non-inclusion is nothing but irrational and it needs reconsideration.

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