Mumbai: The Bombay high court (HC) has directed the Nashik Police Commissioner to explain why an ailing inmate of Nashik jail was not provided a police escort so that he could be shifted to Nashik civil hospital despite two requisitions being sent by the jail authorities. Jail authorities informed the court that the inmate was suffering from tuberculosis and diabetes and needed to be shifted to a government hospital, but it was not done due to the non-availability of police escort.
It also ordered the prisoner to be shifted to Arthur Road prison from where he could be moved to J. J. Hospital so that he may be provided the required treatment immediately. It also allowed the doctors to hospitalise him they felt it was needed.
A division bench of comprising acting Chief Justice V. K. Tahilramani and Justice M. S. Karnik was hearing a criminal writ petition filed by Mehboob Jamdar, an inmate of Nashik jail seeking to be let out on parole due to illness which requires hospitalisation for treatment. However, the court held that as there was no provision for parole due to illness, the petition could not be allowed.
In the two earlier hearing, the HC had asked the jail authorities to get the inmate medically examined at the civil hospital and place the medical report to corroborate whether his petition was valid. However, on both occasions, the jail authorities had failed to get the civil hospital report and submitted the report of the jail’s Chief Medical Officer who said that Jamdar was being treated for the two ailments and could not be sent to the civil hospital due to unavailability of police escort.
While directing the jail authorities to shift the inmate to Mumbai, the court said, “When prisoners are ailing, they have to be sent on priority basis to the hospital. The concerned department in the office of the Commissioner of Police to file an affidavit as to why escort was not provided when the requisitions were made to send the present prisoner to the civil hospital in Nashik.”
