Covid-19 positive 1984 riots convict files for bail, Supreme Court rejects

Mahender Singh Yadav, who has contracted Covid-19 and is currently in intensive care unit (ICU) of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital in Delhi, argued that his relatives are not being allowed to visit him at the hospital and he should be granted interim bail.

A convict who is coronavirus positive and is in a hospital cannot get any special treatment or favours, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday while rejecting the interim bail plea of a convict in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

Senior counsel R Basant, appearing for Mahendar Yadav, submitted that even at the hospital two constables are posted outside his ward and relatives are not allowed to visit him. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT PHOTO)

Mahender Singh Yadav, who has contracted Covid-19 and is currently in intensive care unit (ICU) of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital in Delhi, argued that his relatives are not being allowed to visit him at the hospital and he should be granted interim bail so as to enable his family members to take suitable steps in view of his deteriorating health.

“If a person is in ICU, nobody can visit him. The petitioner cannot be given differential treatment because he is under detention,” the bench headed by justice Indira Banerjee remarked.

An ex-councillor, Yadav was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by the trial court in 2013 for his role in the 1984 anti-sikh riots in Delhi in which more than 2,700 sikh persons were killed in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards.

He was convicted for the offence of rioting by the trial court and sentenced for three years. The conviction and sentence was upheld by the Delhi high court in December 2018.

Yadav, who tested positive for Covid on June 26, pointed out that one of the 29 inmates with whom he was sharing barracks at the Mandoli jail in Delhi passed away due to coronavirus. Seventeen of the remaining inmates were found to be Covid-19 positive, he added.

Citing his advancing age (he is 70), and other ailments like diabetes and kidney issues, he sought bail.

“The petitioner cannot even walk properly without support and the doctor has suggested replacement of both knees. He is also suffering from acute diabetes and other kidney problems,” the plea said.

Senior counsel R Basant, appearing for Yadav, submitted that even at the hospital two constables are posted outside his ward and relatives are not allowed to visit him.

Additional solicitor general KM Nataraj, appearing for the CBI, submitted that all the patients are given equal treatment and there is no discrimination meted out to the petitioner or the members of his family on the ground that he is a convict.

The bench, which also comprised justice BR Gavai, noted that there was no specific suggestion forthcoming from Yadav as to what steps his family intended to take if Yadav was released on bail.

“There is no offer from the family to shift the petitioner to any other hospital. There is not even a whisper in the petition that any differential treatment is meted out to the patient or to his relatives on the ground of incarceration of the petitioner”, the court said while dismissing the plea.

On May 13, the Supreme Court rejected the plea for interim bail filed by Sajjan Kumar, former Congress MP and convicted in the same case.

Kumar had also sought interim bail on health grounds but the court turned down the plea stating that Kumar did not require immediate hospitalisation.