The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to find out the action it plans to take against Sushma Swaraj Maternity Home, a civic maternity home in suburban Mumbai where a mother and her newborn child died in April due to poor facilities.

The husband of Shaheedunisa Ansari, the woman who died at the hospital, was the petitioner in the case and had alleged that the hospital had not provided the victims’ medical reports.

The petitioner’s advocates, Gayatri Singh and Swaraj Jadhav, noted that they had been seeking the victim’s medical reports from the hospital since April.

The Indian Medical Council stipulates that the reports of patients have to be handed over within 72 hours of it being asked and if it is not furnished then it could lead to cancellation of registration of the hospital.

After being pulled up during the last hearing, the Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) handed over the documents on Wednesday. “Why did you not give it earlier? Why was the petitioner required to come to court?” the bench asked in response to the submission.

The gynaecologist and senior doctor in charge of the maternity home were present in court on Wednesday.

Mumbai police told the court that it was conducting an enquiry into the death of the mother and child. The police added it had not yet registered an FIR as it was awaiting a report from a team of doctors from state-run JJ Hospital which had been tasked to enquire if there had been negligence on the part of doctors in the case.

The bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan went through the statements recorded by the police officer from Bhandup police station and said, “This will have to be supervised by a senior police officer because the way you are investigating it, it appears that you are trying to pre-judge the matter.”

Commenting on the JJ Hospital team enquiry, the bench questioned if the petitioner’s statement had been recorded and asked to be notified if it hadn’t.

“What kind of enquiry are you doing?” the bench asked.

The bench also asked the APP to find out how long the JJ Hospital enquiry would take. The bench will hear the petition further on August 28.

The plea demands a thorough investigation to hold the responsible doctors accountable for the death of the woman and child. It also demands action against those responsible for not providing medical reports to the husband trying to exercise his right to know the procedures performed on his wife at the hospital.