Bombay HC says even convicts have right to best medical treatment
Allowing Ex-Journalist Prashant Rahi, serving life sentence on the charge of being a Maoist, to be examined by a gastroenterologist, the Nagpur bench of Bombay HC has observed that “even a convict is entitled to best of the medical treatment”. Rahi (63), who was convicted in 2017 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in a case in Maharashtra involving Delhi University professor Sai Baba, is lodged in Amravati central jail. Allegedly a member of the banned CPI (Maoist), he was arrested in 2013 & charged under UAPA. He was the Uttarakhand correspondent of a Delhi-based English daily. His daughter Shikha Rahi had filed a petition saying that her father was suffering from stomach ailments & urgently needed to be treated by a specialist. In its order on Thursday, a division bench of justices Rohit Deo and Anil Pansare said, “Conviction does not dilute either the constitutional right under Article 21 or the basic human rights, one of th...