Updated: August 29, 2020 2:07:18 am
Sudha Bhardwaj is housed in the Byculla Women’s Prison in Mumbai. (Proceedings)
On Friday, the Mumbai High Court dismissed the interim bail statement submitted by Sudha Bharadwaj on medical grounds in light of the Covid-19 outbreak in prisons. The court said the state will continue to provide medical assistance in prison for his ailments.
Bhardwaj, an activist arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case, is housed at the Byculla Women’s Prison in Mumbai. She had filed an appeal with the HC against the denial of her provisional bond statement on medical grounds by a special NIA court.
A bench in the division of Judge RD Dhanuka and Judge VG Bisht examined a report from the prison department on Friday, which said that Bharadwaj had been examined in prison by a medical officer and that her condition was “stable and satisfactory”.
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Advocate Ragini Ahuja, who appears for Bharadwaj, said she suffered from chronic ailments such as diabetes and hypertension and that these comorbidities put her at high risk of contracting Covid-19 in prison.
However, Additional Attorney General Anil Singh, representing the NIA, and Public Prosecutor Deepak Thakare, who appeared for the state government, objected to the guilty plea saying that if Bharadwaj required additional treatment and had to be admitted to a hospital, including a private one, the prison authorities would do the same.
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Singh said another co-defendant in the case, Varavara Rao, was admitted to JJ Hospital and later transferred to Nanavati Private Hospital for treatment for Covid-19 and other ailments.
The court also took note of the submissions made by NIA and the state that they were taking all precautions to contain the spread of Covid-19 in prisons. Dismissing Bharadwaj’s claim, the court noted: “In our opinion, there is no case for the granting of bail. This appeal is unfounded ”.
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