Tragedy that court must hear of malnutrition deaths in “progressive” Maharashtra: HC on Malghat deaths | Mumbai News
3 min readMumbaiMar 27, 2026 12:24 AM IST
The Bombay High Court on Thursday said it was a “tragedy” that despite 79 years of Independence, in a “progressive” state like Maharashtra, the court has to hear the state government and parties on deaths of children, pregnant women and lactating mothers due to malnutrition in Melghat in Amravati district and other tribal regions in the state.
The HC asked the government to consider the suggestions given by various parties to the PILs raising concerns over the malnutrition deaths and respond to the same “positively” during the hearing next month.
The bench also asked the state government to commence construction of 300-bedded district-hospital level facility at Dharni in Melghat region.
“The deaths of young adults (due to anemia), pregnant women, and lactating mothers are being discussed in this PIL after a passage of 25 years of continued passing of orders by various benches of this court speaks louder than words. It is a tragedy that this court has to hear submissions on steps occurring due to malnutrition, lack of medication and nutrition and lack of appropriate medical support to malnourished patients, pregnant women and lactating mothers,” a division bench of Justices Ravindra V Ghuge and Abhay J Mantri noted, adding that Melghat has been discussed “more for the wrong reasons” of such deaths.
Justice Ghuge orally remarked, “In a progressive state of Maharashtra, after 79 years of Independence, we are still talking of babies dying due to malnutrition? This discussion on malnutrition itself is a defeat of the policies. Because the policies did not work, in 2026, the lawyers and the parties have to argue that the government needs to save children from malnutrition.”
One of the petitioners, Dr Ashish Satav of the NGO Mahan Trust working in the Melghat region, told the bench that in the last at least 26 years, most of the parents in the region have not been able to admit their severely malnourished children in the hospital due to poor socio-economic conditions and lack of transport facilities.
Examining photographs of children and youth from Melghat submitted by the petitioners, the HC observed “only ribs and bones of human beings were seen” having “no strength to stand properly on their feet.”
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“New batch of PILs started in 2007. After 20 years the deaths should have stopped,” Justice Ghuge orally remarked.
Stressing on the “disparity” between how the rich and poor patients were treated in the region, the bench remarked that the Charity Commissioner has been taking action against hospitals which convey to poor people about unavailability of beds and instead admit rich people on such beds.
The HC referred to “disparity” between news reports showing pregnant woman in Melghat region carried on foot by “poor people” across jungle on Charpoi to the hospital and and patients being driven to hospitals including those run by charitable trusts in chauffeur-driven cars.
The court also asked the authorities to look into issues raised by Senior advocate Jugal Kishore Gilda for petitioners over dues of Rs. 30 crore related to water supply schemes and petitioner Purnima Upadhyay raising concerns over non-payment of Rs 7 crore under MNREGA, affecting several people in the region.
