The family of research scholar Atiq-ur-Rehman, one of those arrested in Mathura on terror charges while going to Hathras following the gang rape and murder of a Dalit girl last year, said on Wednesday that he was being admitted to the AIIMS in New Delhi for treatment of a serious cardiac ailment.
The development comes a day after the Allahabad High Court said adequate medical facility was not provided to him despite repeated orders by a lower court in Lucknow.
Mr. Rehman’s guardian Shakhavat Kha had approached the High Court pleading that he be shifted to AIIMS for better treatment as he suffers from severe aortic regurgitation and had been under treatment at the hospital prior to his captivity in district jail, Mathura. Mr. Rehman could die if urgent measures were not taken, Mr. Kha said in his urgent application, stressing that he faced a “threat to life” owing to “extreme medical emergency”. Any delay in hearing the application or providing treatment to Mr. Rehman could result in a fate similar to Stan Swamy’s, Mr. Kha said in his application.
Mr. Rehman’s lawyer Shashwat Anand said he had been admitted to AIIMS after the intervention of the High Court, which on Tuesday noted that “in spite of repeated orders dated 23.09.2021 and 12.10.2021 passed by Sessions Judge/Special Court, PMLA, Lucknow... adequate medical facility has not been provided” to him.
A division bench of Justices Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Subhash Vidyarthi heard the application for a direction to the State to admit Mr. Rehman forthwith to AIIMS, New Delhi, for surgical intervention (Bental Procedure). The petitioner also prayed that he be enlarged on bail on account of his exigent and precarious medical emergency.
The High Court, on the request of the government counsel for Uttar Pradesh, allowed him time to seek necessary instructions in the matter and listed the case for November 25.
Mr. Rehman, who also faces a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, was taken for appearance before the Special Court PMLA, Lucknow, from the Mathura district jail on Tuesday. However, his health deteriorated en route and he had to be admitted to the Chandoli primary health centre for urgent treatment, said Mr. Kha. He was then shifted to Agra district hospital and subsequently referred to the Sarojini Naidu Hospital in Agra, before being taken back to jail.
