The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed the AAP government and the prison authority to ensure proper medical supervision and care of former RJD MP Mohd Shahabuddin who is suffering from COVID-19 and admitted in DDU Hospital.
Justice Prathiba M Singh said the doctor on duty for looking after COVID-19 patients shall monitor Shahabuddin”s health condition and treatment and if required, also consult with senior doctors of the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.
The court also directed that the former RJD MP, serving life sentence for murder, be permitted to speak to a family member twice a day and disposed of his plea for protection of his life and monitoring of the treatment being provided to him at DDU Hospital.
Delhi government additional standing counsel Santosh K Tripathi said as per the prison rules, calls to family members are not permitted when a prisoner is outside the jail.
“But he is unwell, no.” the court said.
Subsequently, Tripathi said that the convict can be allowed to speak over the phone with one relative under supervision of the prison official(s).
He also told the court that proper medical care was being provided to Shahabuddin and the same shall continue.
The former RJD MP, in his plea, had said that he apprehended that he would not get the proper treatment as there was a scarcity of oxygen and other medicines in Delhi.
He had also alleged that he was “apprehending the mismanagement of his health situation at the hands of the doctors at the behest of the opposite political leaders” in Delhi.
According to the petition, he was lodged in a cell, in the high risk ward of Tihar Jail, which he was sharing with another inmate.
Despite the other inmate testing COVID-19 positive in early April, Shahabuddin was kept in the same cell with the infected inmate and “no separate arrangement was made by the jail authorities”, the petition had said. PTI
