The professor Hany Babu has approached the Bombay High Court seeking an interim medical bail in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018.
The professor has spent over 2 years in judicial custody and wants release from custody as he wants to get his cataract surgery, treatment of his upper abdominal pain and osteoarthritis in a private hospital in Mumbai.The professor has added that he will do post treatment recuperation at his own expense.
Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry has requested the Court for giving directions to the prison authorities for taking the professor for a medical check up at the Breach Candy private hospital in Mumbai.
The counsel for NIA, Advocate Sandesh Patil, has put no objection to the checkup, but has reservation to the presence of relatives in the hospital.
He contended that presence of relatives could lead to biased reports in favour of the accused.
A division bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice PD Naik have asked NIA for checking reports that are annexed to Babu’s petition and posted the matter for hearing on December 13.
The professor has told the court that he approached the prison authorities and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court for his health issues. but received no response.
The professor also claimed to have lost his vision due to cataract . He added that he is experiencing acute and unrelenting pain in his stomach and knees.
The professor apprehends that the cause of his abdominal pain could be gallstones or pancreatitis and thus wants to be examined by a proper gastroenterologist and get necessary diagnostic tests, and surgery if needed.
He also claimed that osteoarthritis caused pain in his right knee which made daily chores challenging.
He approached the special NIA court in March this year seeking permission to be taken to JJ Hospital for consulting a gastroenterologist.
He also sought admission to a private hospital at his expense for surgery, if required.
The special judge directed that the accused be taken to JJ and sought a report from the prison authorities.
The Tajola jail chief medical officer said that he has examined his complaints and then provided him with necessary treatments and medicine from the prison hospital.
The report stated that the petitioner would be referred to a government hospital as and when absolutely required.
Babu said that he taken was once taken to JJ hospital on September 9 this year for an eye examination after a complaint of blurred vision where he was aske for a follow up for his left eye cataract surgery. He was also asked to check for glaucoma, but he has not been taken to JJ hospital for visits nor was he tested after that, it was stated.
Babu also has said that his fundamental right to health and medical treatment which is guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution is been violated.