Yasin Malik moves Delhi High Court seeking treatment at AIIMS for cardiac, kidney ailments

Convicted Kashmiri separatist leader and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik has approached the Delhi High Court seeking medical treatment for cardiac and kidney ailments..He said that he needs to be taken physically to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for such treatment. Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta heard the matter and asked the counsel representing Malik to obtain instructions on whether he is willing to be treated by the medical board constituted by the AIIMS or by the doctors of his own choice.The case will be considered next on February 14..Malik has sought directions to be referred to AIIMS or any other super-specialty hospital for his treatment. The petition was vehemently opposed by the Central government which challenged its maintainability and said that Malik does not require to be admitted to the hospital but only to be treated as an Out Patient Department (OPD) patient.Advocate Rajat Nair appeared for the government and told the Bench that a medical board was constituted by AIIMS to examine Malik through video conference but he refused to meet them.Nair said that Malik is a “very very high-risk prisoner” and that he will be provided with all the medical facilities in the jail..The Court considered the submission and asked Malik’s counsel to obtain instructions.In the meantime, the Tihar jail authorities have been ordered to ensure that any treatment required by Malik is duly provided to him in jail hospital..Malik is serving life-sentence in a terror funding case and is lodged in Tihar jail. The NIA's appeal seeking death penalty for him is pending before the Delhi High Court.Malik was convicted of offences under Section 120B, 121, 121A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 13 and 15 of UAPA read with 120B of the IPC besides Sections 17, 18, 20, 38 and 39 of UAPA.In a detailed judgement, the NIA Court had observed that Malik betrayed the good intentions of the government by choosing the violent path."Betraying the good intentions of the government he took a different path to orchestrate violence in the guise of political struggle. ...the evidence on the basis of which charges were framed and to which convict has pleaded guilty, speaks otherwise," the special court had underscored.The judge had also rejected Malik's argument that he had become a Gandhian after 1994..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.