NEW DELHI ,May 10 , 2022: A jailed Sikh prisoner has said that he is being deprived from Right to Life , tortured and harrased by the authorities in Jail. The Delhi High Court has sought a status report from jail authorities on a plea on behalf of Hardeep Singh alias Shera, who is jailed of on Khalistani demand among other charges by the the Indian agency NIA, saying discrimination and torture in prison in India's Rohini jail in Delhi.
Directing the prison authorities to file their reply in the matter, Justice Chandra Dhari Singh posted the case for further hearing on August 18.
The plea, moved by his father through advocate Harpreet Singh Hora, contended that the jail authorities deprived him of his ‘Right to Life’ by not providing the basic amenities and medical assistance despite being aware of the fact that he has several injuries and body aches.
The plea also sought medical treatment, telephonic calls, the conduct of an X-ray, and a chair/stool to sit on.
During the course of the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel submitted that his client is unable to communicate from jail with his father and family members in Punjab where other inmates are provided with telephonic calls as per the jail manual.
It is settled law that the prisoners cannot be made laboratories of torture, warehouses in which human commodities can be sadistically kept, counsel said.
It is the core value of the Constitution of India that prisoners have unalienable rights conferred upon them by international treaties and covenants; they have a right to health and seek medical care/treatment whenever necessary, it stated.