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The Bombay High Court has asked the Maharashtra government to ensure that Covid-19 is no longer spread in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, where 77 inmates and 26 staff members tested positive for the virus.
Judge Bharati Dangre’s address arrived on Friday while listening to a bail request filed on Friday by an inmate, Ali Akbar Shroff, citing medical reasons.
The prisoner had requested temporary bail on the grounds that he had become more vulnerable due to the spread of Covid-19 in the Arthur Road jail.
The judge said that authorities do not need to remind prisoners of their rights to a safe and healthy environment and even while incarcerated, they enjoy the right to life as well as those of the outside world.
Shroff’s chief lawyer, Abad Ponda, said the 43-year-old man is a chronic patient of diabetes, hypertension and high blood pressure. Ponda added that Shroff also has a sinus problem and that he requires constant medical supervision and treatment.
This medical condition, according to the lead attorney, can prove fatal as people suffering from hypertension and diabetes are considered more susceptible to the coronavirus, and therefore urged the court to release Shroff on temporary bail.
“The situation is undoubtedly precarious,” Judge Dangre said in commenting on Ponda’s statement that several inmates at Arthur Road Jail tested positive for coronavirus. “If it is true that more than 100 patients have tested positive at the Arthur Road Jail, it is up to the authorities to make arrangements for their affairs and to ensure that the prisoners currently housed in the jail are not infected with the virus.”
However, he rejected the provisional declaration of bail saying that several elderly inmates currently languish in jail, although they are more prone to the virus, compared to the current applicant. “Since no imminent impairment to health is reflected in the case of the present applicant, the application is rejected,” he said.
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