Rahi case: HC reminds state of convict’s right to get best medicare

Nagpur: Prashant Rahi, former journalist now jailed in Amravati after conviction in a Maoism case, has been shifted to Nagpur, where he would be kept in the prison hospital, said his daughter Shikha Rahi on Tuesday. He would be there temporarily till his treatment goes on, she said.
The high court on Tuesday reminded the state of its earlier order issued in September, which said conviction should not dilute the basic human rights and the constitutional rights of a prisoner, who is also entitled to the best of medical treatment.
Rahi’s shifting follows a fresh petition before the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court seeking medical attention and hospitalization for Rahi, saying that his condition has further deteriorated since then. Earlier, a legal notice was issued to the jail by the lawyers for non-compliance with the September order too.
Hearing the plea on Tuesday, the division bench of high court reiterated the earlier observation on the convict’s rights and medical treatment. The court further said, “We hope that the state is alive to the obligation to ensure that whatever requires to be done to give succour to the prisoner within four corners of the law, is done promptly,”
Rahi was taken to the Super Specialty Hospital at Nagpur, where he was seen by a gastroenterologist and a sonography was done. Blood samples were also taken.
Rahi’s counsel said that Rahi cannot have regular meals and his condition has deteriorated and he should be in the hospital at the prison for some time.
The shifting of Rahi began with his daughter Shikha Rahi filing a petition in September, claiming her father was suffering from chronic diarrhoea and vomiting in the jail leaving him weakened, leading to the order for best of the treatment. Shikha, who met her father during the hospital visit, said she was told that he is unable to eat even biscuits now. Rahi is among the five convicts in the case, along with Delhi University professor Sai Baba, who is also lodged in Nagpur jail.