After the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court expressed “shock” when a woman said her husband’s mental health condition was deteriorating because he had been kept in the central jail’s anda cell (solitary cell) for two years and four months, the jail authorities shifted him to another cell on Friday.
On Friday, Ruheena Shaikh had alleged that the prison authorities were following an “inhuman approach” given that the solitary confinement for breaking prison rules, as per the Prisoners Act, 1894, cannot exceed 14 days. The court had asked the jail to immediately shift her husband, Imran Shaikh, from the anda cell. It had further directed the chief judicial magistrate to visit the prison by January 29, record the convict’s statement and also inspect the solitary cell before submitting a fact-finding report by January 31, when it will hear the plea again. The high court also asked the magistrate to take along a photographer and submit pictures of the cell. The bench also asked the dean of the Government Medical College & Hospital in Aurangabad to constitute a team of three doctors—a psychiatrist, a physician and another specialist—to examine Imran, inspect the anda cell and submit a report on his health.
Ruheena’s lawyer, Rupesh Jaiswal, who was appointed by the court’s legal services sub-committee, said on Saturday that Imran had been moved from the anda cell and the medical examination as well as the magisterial inquiry had begun.
On Friday, a division bench of Justice V K Jadhav and Justice S C More heard the plea filed by Ruheena. She submitted a September 15, 2021 letter written by Imran to the jail superintendent seeking that he be moved out of the anda cell, where he was transferred in October 2019. The petition said that Imran was not given an opportunity to prove that he did not break prison rules. Referring to the mental and other ailments Imran had developed, the letter stated that “even animals are not kept like this”. “Various types of hallucinations happen to me, by keeping me so, I have even forgotten to communicate with human beings and every human feeling has been wiped out. Even animal’s are not kept like this. I am not a terrorist or affiliated to any underworld. Nor have I broken any prison rules,” Imran had said in the letter.
Ruheena told the court that the prison did not take action on his letter. She said that when she visited Imran on November 24, 2021, his mental health was in “deteriorating condition” -– he was not able to understand what she was saying. On December 12, 2021, Ruheena wrote to the jail requesting her husband to be shifted from the solitary cell. However, no action was taken, prompting her to approach the high court. “We are shocked to read the allegations made in the petition,” the bench had said and issues notices to authorities to respond.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/magisterial-medical-probe-bombay-hc-7747688/
