Patiala House Court on 22nd February, 2020 (Saturday) dismissed the petition of Vinay Sharma, one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya Case. He had sought directions to provide high level medical treatment to him. The convict had filed a petition through his counsel AP Singh on 20th February, 2020 after it had been alleged that he hurt himself inside his cell. The application has further claimed mental illness, schizophrenia with injuries to the head and arm.
The court dismissed his plea and observed, "General anxiety and depression in case of a death row convict is obvious. In the case at hand, evidently, adequate medical treatment and psychological help have been provided to the condemned convict."
The Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana had earlier reserved the order after having heard arguments from both sides. The Tihar jail authorities had informed the court that the injuries sustained by the death row convict are "self-inflicted and superficial"
"Convict is under control, injuries are self-inflicted and superficial. Radiologist conducted an X-ray and found that convict did not sustain any fracture," Public Prosecutor Irfan Ahmad told the court. Further to which the authorities have submitted a CD containing the CCTV footage of Vinay banging his head against the wall. "The medical call made by the convict was a false", said Irfan Ahmed.
Irfan Ahmed pointed and asserted that wrong submissions had been made by AP Singh on Vinay's hand being fractured and contended that there was no fracture or plaster on his hand. Also two phone calls had been made by Vinay to his mother when it was allegedly claimed that Vinay had not been in a position to even identify his mother.
AP Singh put forth that alleged foul play by the jail authorities had been portrayed. And further sought the court to look into the CCTV footage of 18th February, 2020. The court had issued a notice to Tihar jail seeking a report on the application that had sought the high level medical treatment.
On the other hand, a fresh death warrant has been issued for the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya Case - Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Singh and Vinay Sharma for their hanging at 6 am on March 3rd, 2020.
Author - Dyuti Pandya
