[Varavara Rao judgment] Bombay High Court issues directions to ensure adequate medical facilities in prisons

The Bombay High Court has issued corrective measures to be followed by the Inspector General Prison (IG Prisons) of Maharashtra and Principal District Judges in Maharashtra to ensure that all prisons in the State have adequate medical facilities [Dr. P. Varavara Rao v. NIA].The directions formed part of the 33-page order rejecting bail to Bhima Koregaon accused Varavara Rao. While deciding the bail application of Rao, the bench of Justices SB Shukre and GA Sanap was informed by Senior Advocate Anand Grover that there were no basic medical facilities available in Taloja prison.This was one of the primary reasons for seeking bail as the octogenarian was not getting proper medical facilities in the prison..The Bench opined that if some corrective measures are adopted then the grievance made by the accused in this case as well as the prisons all over Maharashtra could be taken care of.The Bench noted at the outset that the IG Prisons is in-charge of prisons in Maharashtra and it was his duty to ensure compliance with the Maharashtra Prisons (Prison Hospital) Rules. .In light of this, the Bench suggested the following measures to be followed by the IG Prisons:to collect the information from Taloja Central prison and all prisons in Maharashtra about appointment of the medical officers, nursing and other staff and other facilities and provisions required to be made available;submit his report with regard to the steps taken by him so far to ensure compliance with Prison Rules before April 30, 2022;to ensure that henceforth there should not be scope for the prisoners to make grievance about lack of medical facilities and timely medical aid..The Principal District Judges are required to take following measures:pay periodical visits to the prisons;pay sufficient attention to the affairs of the prisons in the monthly meetings and ensure that the provisions of the Maharashtra Prisons (Prison Hospital) Rules, 1970 are complied with in letter and spirit..Rao had approached the High Court with:An application seeking extension of the interim bail granted in February 2021;A writ petition seeking permanent bail on medical grounds; andAn application seeking permission to stay in Hyderabad during the duration of bail on the grounds that staying in Mumbai is expensive..The Court, however, stated that except for a cataract surgery, Rao did not seem to have any other serious health problems in order to accept the submission for granting regular bail to Rao.After extending his temporary bail granted in April 2021 by 3 months, the Bench requested the Special Court under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act to expedite hearing of the trial and conduct the same on day to day basis..[Read Judgment]