Kin Of Persons Who Die By Suicide Within 30 Days Of Testing COVID Positive Entitled To Compensation : Centre Tells Supreme Court

Purusant to the Supreme Court Court's direction of asking the Centre to revisit its decision of not including death by suicide as CoVID 19 death even if CoVID 19 was an accompanying condition in the, Centre has filed an affidavit stating the family of those who died by suicide within 30 days after being diagnosed positive will be entitled to ex gratia."It is respectfully submitted that suitable directions in this regard may be passed by this Hon'ble Court, whereby, the family members of people committing suicide within 30 days from being diagnosed as COVID-19 positive as per MoH&F/ICMR guidelines will also be entitled to avail financial help as granted under SDRF in accordance with the Guidelines dated 11.09.2021 issued by NDMA under Section 12 (iii) of DMA," an additional affidavit filed by the Centre stated.The Centre has told the Supreme Court that the National Disaster Management Authority has recommended Rs 50,000 compensation for the kin of those who die due to the COVID, which is to be paid by the States from the State Disaster Response Funds.A bench comprising Justices MR Shah and AS Bopanna, on September 13, had asked the Centre to revisit its guidelines for determining COVID deaths by including suicides as well. As per the said guidelines, deaths occurring due to poisoning, suicide, homicide and deaths due to accident, among others, will not be considered as COVID-19 deaths even if COVID- 19 is an accompanying condition. The affidavit had also stated that the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Indian Council for Medical Research had jointly issued guidelines on September 3 for issuance of an "official document" on COVID-19 deaths. It was also submitted in the affidavit that the Office of the Registrar General of India ("ORGI") has issued a circular on 3rd September, 2021 to provide a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death to the next of kin of the deceased. These guidelines were placed on record before the Supreme Court through a compliance affidavit filed on September 11. "What about the persons who committed suicide while they were suffering from Corona?", Justice Shah asked. The judge said that exclusion of suicides where COVID was an accompanying condition cannot be prima facie accepted. "You have to re-consider this", Justice Shah had told the SG.(Case : Gaurav Kumar Bansal v. Union of India). Click Here To Read/ Download Order

Kin Of Persons Who Die By Suicide Within 30 Days Of Testing COVID Positive Entitled To Compensation : Centre Tells Supreme Court

Shruti Kakkar

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