Daijiworld Media Network - Pune

Pune, Jun 21: The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to pay Rs 22 lakh compensation to the wife of a patient who was brutally murdered inside Pune’s Yerwada Regional Mental Hospital 12 years ago.

The incident, which shocked the state in 2013, involved a mentally ill patient killing another inmate after a minor dispute over a bedsheet. The court order came after a prolonged legal battle initiated by the victim’s wife seeking compensation for the loss and trauma suffered.

Shamshuddin Bhanwadia, aged 50, was admitted to the observation ward of Yerwada Mental Hospital for treatment of mental illness. Another patient, wrestler-turned-inmate Deepak Survase, was also undergoing treatment in the same ward.

According to details of the case, an argument broke out between the two patients during the night over the use of a bedsheet. The dispute escalated, following which Survase allegedly assaulted Bhanwadia and later strangled him to death.

Following the incident, Bhanwadia’s wife Noorjahan approached the Bombay High Court seeking compensation. After nearly eight years of legal proceedings, the court accepted her plea and ordered the state government to pay the compensation.

The court has awarded Rs 17 lakh as the main compensation amount and an additional Rs 5 lakh towards the mental suffering and legal expenses faced by the family, taking the total compensation to Rs 22 lakh. The health department has been instructed to implement the order.

Meanwhile, a murder case was registered against Deepak Survase. However, due to his mental condition, he was not kept in jail and has been placed in a separate high-security ward at the mental hospital, where he has been receiving treatment for several years.

Hospital sources said that he cannot be given formal punishment until he is declared mentally fit.