Suspected of faking illness, Tihar inmate left writhing in pain

A female inmate of Tihar jail was allegedly left writhing in pain for over six hours instead of being rushed to a hospital on March 7. Jatin Anand reports.

A female inmate of Tihar jail was allegedly left writhing in pain for over six hours instead of being rushed to a hospital on March 7. The woman, who is a mother of two-year-old child, was suffering from appendicitis.

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“She was supposed to go to court for a hearing in her case on the morning of March 7. The authorities made her get on a bus even though she could barely walk. She looked so unwell that even the driver refused to ferry her anywhere, fearing that the journey would be enough to kill her,” said the source.

Even as her handlers were debating with the bus driver, the inmate fainted before their very eyes.

Refuting the allegations, Sunil Gupta, chief public relations officer, Tihar Jail, said: “It would be incorrect to say that she was not taken care of. We got her medically examined both within the jail premises and outside as and when it was required. Even on March 7, her court date had been cancelled when she complained of intense pain in her abdomen. Her operation was successful. It seems there was some minor trouble in her large intestine.”

However, sources said, the jail authorities chose to keep the inmate, who is in her early 20s and lodged at the Bachcha Block located in Jail number six, under observation at the medical examination room simply because they couldn’t believe that “her pain was genuine”.

“Every time she would scream in pain, the attendants in the medical examination room would say that she was faking. It was only around 8pm that they decided to rush her to the adjacent Deen Dayal Upadhayay (DDU) Hospital,” the source said.

The inmate, who is a resident of south Delhi’s Sarojini Nagar, is facing jail for abetting the rape and abduction of one of her relatives last year in May. She was later admitted to the DDU for an operation on March 8.

She is currently recuperating in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

“She had come to Tihar on May 10, 2010, and complained of abdominal pain on June 21. She was first examined by the jail doctors on August 12 last year and then on March 4 this year,” source said. Though jail authorities confirmed the incident, they said they were just following the procedure.