The state government has to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to Shankari Sarkar whose husband had disappeared from a city hospital in October 1999 and could not be located since.

The division bench of Justice A.K. Talukdar and Justice P.S. Banerjee on Wednesday issued the order following a habeas corpus petition by Shankari, asking the government to produce her husband dead or alive.

“I’ll open a pan shop with the money near my house in Durgapur,” said Shankari, 61, whose only son is mentally challenged. “That will be the only source of sustenance for me and my son.”

Shankari’s husband Nanda Kumar Sarkar, a retired state government employee, was admitted to BR Singh Hospital on September 22, 1999, after he complained of chest pain. He went missing a fortnight later.

Shankari and son Bablu made several attempts to trace Nanda Kumar, but failed. They even wrote to the chief minister once. Acting on her petition, the high court asked police and the hospital to submit a report on Nanda Kumar’s whereabouts. Both informed the court that they had failed to trace him.

“Shankari and her son, who have been staying with distant relatives since Nanda Kumar’s disappearance, have almost been starving. Today’s court order will help them live properly,” said Shankari’s lawyer Idris Ali.

“Nanda Kumar, who had retired from government service in 1993, had been suffering from various ailments. A lot of money was spent on his treatment. Shankari and Bablu were almost reduced to penury,” Ali added.

Public prosecutor Ashimesh Goswami told the court that the police could not trace Nanda Kumar despite their “best efforts”. The hospital submitted that it had done its duty by informing the police about Nanda Kumar the day he went missing.

The court order has come as a relief for Shankari. “Finally, I have something to fall back on. I had seen the ugly face of society while we were living off the pittance doled out by others,” she said.

According to Ali, the police will still have to continue their probe into the disappearance.