Prisoners have right to medical records under Article 21: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Friday held that prisoners have a right under Article 21 of the Constitution to receive medical records including information on tests and medicines administered to them (Maaysha Singh v. State of Maharashtra & Anr)..A Bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and SP Tavade also held that prisoners are entitled to make a phone call with an approved family member after any visit to the hospital by following the prison protocol. .These directions came on a plea moved by Maaysha Singh, daughter of Bhima Koregaon violence accused, advocate Sudha Bharadwaj seeking her mother's release from prison on medical grounds. Bharadwaj is one of the accused in the Elgar Parishad event of 2018 which triggered violence at Bhima Koregaon the next day. Bharadwaj is currently detained at Women's Prison in Byculla, Mumbai..Advocate Yug Chaudhry informed the Court that after filing the present petition and after the order passed in the previous hearing, Bharadwaj was taken to the hospital outside the prison and is now receiving treatment. In view of this, he was not pressing for the second request for bail on medical ground. Accordingly the petition was disposed of..Chaudhry submitted that in order to cut down on the number of petitions being filed in the High Court, he wanted to make two suggestions to the Courts for their consideration.Prisoners have a right to their own medical record. Copies of the test reports and medicines prescribed should be given to them. Courts could allow one phone call to the prisoner with an approved family member or lawyers after a hospital visit so that they can be consulted..Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh appearing for the National Investigation Agency replied that while these suggestions made are actually State's discretion, he had no opposition to the suggestions except that permission ought not be granted for speaking to a lawyer."What will lawyer do for treatment?" ASG said. Additional Public Prosecutor Jayesh P Yagnik said that even he agreed with the suggestion as long as prison protocols are followed. .After hearing all submission, the Court proceeded to pass order. It specifically stated in the order that the directions passed in the petition should be made applicable to all prisoners.