Patient dies from Japanese Encephalitis due to lack of treatment: HC asks State to pay Rs 10 lakh compensation
Agartala: Observing that a jail inmate belonging to Central Correctional Home in Sipahijala district had died due to lack of treatment while suffering from Japanese Encephalitis (JE), a division bench of Tripura High Court has directed the State Government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next kin of the deceased inmate.
Such a decision has been taken by the HC bench comprising of Justice Arindam Lodh and Justice SG Chattopadhyay as it upheld the single bench order issued in January 2018. In that order, apart from awarding the compensation, the Single bench judge Justice Subhasish Talapatra had also advised the Jail authority to raise a corpus fund for treating the ailing convicts on emergency basis and improving the healthcare facilities, adds UNI.
PTI adds that the deceased Chandan Dey, who died due to medical negligence on the part of correctional home, was serving imprisonment term at Central Correctional Home in Sipahijala district after being found guilty in a road accident.
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As per the victim's advocate Samarjit Bhattacharjee, Mr. Dey hailed from West Tripura district and he was convicted for 18 months on the charge of rash and negligent driving in 2016. However, in April 2017, he had falled ill in Agartala Central Jail, but was not provided adequate treatment.
Dey was shifted to Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) in a critical state on June 9, 2017. But as his condition continued to deteriorate, he had been referred to SSKM Hospital Kolkata on June 19, with the doctor advising the jail authorities to shift him at the earliest.
However, the prison authorities couldn't shift him to Kolkata immediately as they did not get the approval from the government for the expenditure. After he died on June 23, 2017, in AGMC, his triggered a row across the state. His wife moved the High Court alleging negligence and delay in providing treatment caused her husband's death.
According to senior advocate Purushottam Roy Barman, who represented the family in the high court, Dey's family members had filed a writ petition before the high court seeking justice for the death of the sole bread earner.
Justice S Talapatra of the single bench, after hearing the case, had held the prison authorities responsible for the untimely death of Dey in January 2018 and asked the government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next kin of the victim.
Jail authorities, however, moved the division bench of the court, challenging the single bench order "A division bench comprising Justice Arindam Nath and Justice S Chattopadhyay on May 20 upheld the single bench's order , asking the government to pay the compensation," Roy Barman added.
