LAP OF LUXURY

Delhi’s Top Judges Given Own Swanky Health Facility as India Suffers Coronavirus Nightmare

The five-star Ashoka Hotel will be converted into a makeshift private hospital to look after the judges and their families.

The world has watched in horror as a coronavirus surge swamps India, with many hospitals running out of beds and oxygen needed to keep people alive. New Delhi’s top judges don’t have to worry, however, as they’ve been set up with a luxury private health facility to take care of them and their families. The city government said Monday that the Delhi High Court had requested a special facility, so the five-star Ashoka Hotel will be converted into a makeshift private hospital to look after the judges. The Indian capital is one of the worst-hit cites in the world, with every third person tested for the virus found to be positive and one death being recorded every four minutes on average. “The Delhi high court would do well to decline the Ashoka Hotel offer, or cancel it if they ordered it themselves,” said Aakar Patel, the ex-head of Amnesty International India. “We cannot have open discrimination practiced by those charged with preventing it.” To make matters worse, judges have not been listed as essential workers in India and most courts are being heard through video calls.