Treatment of jail inmates outside to be probed

FOLLOWING THE High Court directives, the State Government would conduct an inquiry into all cases where guilty/accused jail inmates have been admitted for medical treatment in government hospitals outside the jail premises for more than 15 days without valid reason.

FOLLOWING THE High Court directives, the State Government would conduct an inquiry into all cases where guilty/accused jail inmates have been admitted for medical treatment in government hospitals outside the jail premises for more than 15 days without valid reason.

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State Health Department Principal Secretary Madan Mohan Upadhyay would inquire into all such cases even as the High Court has instructed the police and jail departments to provide relevant information about all these cases to the officer within four weeks.

The court has also issued directives for forming a three-member committee in all districts headed by the collector to examine reasons about when and why a jail inmate was kept at a hospital outside jail premises for more than 15 days.

The State Government has ordered all district collectors, SPs, CMHOs, civil surgeons, jail superintendents and jailers to present their views and comments on such cases so that a report could be submitted to the High Court within two months.

The three-member committee would have SP and jail superintendent/jailer concerned as members. It would examine and review each case in the district and send its report to Principal Secretary (Health).

June 25 has been set as the date for sending reports of such cases between January 1, 2005 and May 30, 2006. Jails and sub-jails in each district would provide required information to the committee.

State Government has instructed the officers concerned to present the required information in a prescribed format while ensuring the time limit was strictly adhered to so that court orders could be carried out as desired.

The committee would also peruse jail manual, police regulations and other relevant legal documents to ascertain whether rules and laws, pertaining to medical treatment of jail inmates outside jail premises, were violated in any case.