After Allahabad High Court’s 48 hours ultimatum, the Uttar Pradesh government today took Atik Ur Rahman to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for his medical treatment on Wednesday morning on an account of his exigent and precarious health conditions as he suffers a chronic heart ailment.
A bench of Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Subash Vidhyarthi gave two days’ time to the UP government to come up with a response on a plea moved by Rahman’s father in law seeking his admission to AIIMS and enlargement on bail in the alternative, on account of an extreme medical emergency.
Rahman is a PhD scholar who has been associated with Campus Front of India, a student organisation. He was arrested last year by Uttar Pradesh Police while on way to Hathras along with Journalist Siddique Kappan, Masood Ahmed and cab driver Alam. They all have maintained their innocence and clarified that they were on their way as journalists to report on the matter or as activists to express their solidarity with the bereaved family.
On 22nd September, while Rahman was being taken for a hearing in jail to a PMLA court, his condition worsened and on 23rd September the court directed that he should be taken to AIIMS.
Uttar Pradesh Police in a report submitted to Lucknow Court on 12th October told that doctors at AIIMS advised life-saving heart surgery for Rahman.
In the last order, the Court said that they will take Rahman to AIIMS once the amount sanctioned for his treatment is released.
No action was taken since then and an urgent plea was filed on 18th November by Shekhawat Khan, Rahman’s uncle on account of his health.
“The necessity to file the instant application has arisen on account of the THREAT TO LIFE of the applicant, owing to EXTREME MEDICAL EMERGENCY”, reads the plea.
The plea also stressed that if the court does not come to his aid immediately to SAVE HIS LIFE, it might be too late, and “he would be resigned to the harshest penalty of all, known to mankind, i.e., DEATH PENALTY, WITHOUT A TRIAL.”
Senior Advocate Syed Farman Ahmad Naqvi represented Rahman in the Allahabad High Court.
“The Allahabad High Court slammed the police for delaying the matter and said that Rahman needs quick and immediate medical attention and should be taken to AIIMS”, told Adv Saifan, one of Rahman’s counsels.
“After being informed about the last order of Lucknow Court to shift Rahman to AIIMS, the hon’ble judge slammed the state counsel and police for the delay. The Court also gave an ultimatum of 48 hours to take action on Atik’s plea”, he added.
The Court also said that “Government has funds for unnecessary big functions but no funds for prisoners. It is your (State’s) duty to provide proper medical care to him since he is in your custody”, Saifan added.
Rahman’s family and his lawyer have been raising concerns about his deteriorating health condition and have been demanding his release to get the heart surgery done.
“This untimely sigh of relief came after several bail applications and months of wait. I am saying this is untimely because he should have been granted medical attention months before”, said Sanjida Rahman, Rahman’s wife.
“For now, I am happy that at least they agreed to his treatment”, she added.
As told by his lawyer, Rahman was taken to AIIMS early at 6:00 AM on Wednesday and his heart surgery is scheduled for tomorrow on 25th November.
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Ghazala Ahmad is the Delhi Correspondent for The Cognate.
