Allahabad HC slams Govt for denying Medical Care to Undertrial Prisoner during Illness

Prayagraj: Slamming the State government for refusing to provide medical facilities to an undertrial prisoner, the Allahabad High Court emphasized that it is the state's responsibility to provide care and medical facilities to undertrial prisoners during illness and cannot evade this duty.

Calling the government's action 'unjustified', a single bench led by Justice Samit Gopal stated that the state cannot decline to provide treatment to an accused under custody with adequate medical facilities on any grounds.

The judge made these comments while criticizing the state authorities for refusing to provide medical or surgical help to an undertrial prisoner. The authorities had claimed that they couldn't provide the treatment because the Model Code of Conduct for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was in place at that time.

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Following this, the court directed the District Magistrate of Deoria and the Superintendent of Police, Deoria, to personally look into the matter and file affidavits explaining why adequate arrangements were not made for the applicant's surgery.

While hearing the matter, the judge said as quoted by Live Law, "This is entirely unacceptable. The accused is in custody under the state's supervision. The state cannot refuse to provide him with adequate medical facilities on any grounds. In the present case, in the court's opinion, the reason given by the Superintendent of the District Jail, Deoria, is completely unjustified."

The court also instructed the officials to explain under what circumstances the applicant was denied surgery. It asked for an explanation of who was responsible for this, as the surgery, once recommended, should not have been delayed based on the discretion of the officials but should have been performed based on the doctors' recommendations.

The case came to light after the prison authorities refused to act on a prior court order dated April 16, 2024, in which the Additional Sessions Judge of Deoria had directed that the prisoner be provided with adequate medical treatment as he was unwell in jail. 

However, the jail superintendent refused to provide treatment, citing the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections. It was also stated that medical treatment would only be provided after the MCC was lifted.

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