RJD chief lalu Prasad, currently on parole of three days to attend his son’s wedding in Patna, was given further relief by the Jharkhand High Court on Friday and was granted provisional bail for six weeks on medical grounds. The Court, after looking at medical reports of Prasad, observed that whether an individual is a common man or a convicted person, everyone’s life is important and must be saved at any cost.
A bench of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh granted provisional bail only for the purpose of medical treatment on the conditions of restraining himself from any political activity and will also have to submit the medical reports before the Court. His advocate said that since Prasad has been convicted and sentenced in three cases, the court allowed the provisional bail through a common order, which would apply for all the cases.
“lalu ji has been granted provisional bail for six weeks for getting himself treated at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram, Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai and BGS Global Hospital in Bangalore. He will have to submit reports of treatment undergone by him after completion of six weeks after coming back,” said Senior Advocate of Patna High Court Chitranjan Sinha who was assisting Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Court. The provisional bail will be effective from the date of his release after completion of his parole period, he added.
“After coming back to RIMS on Monday, he will have to furnish a bail bond of Rs 50,000 in the court following which he will be released,” added the advocate.
Singhvi pleaded that the reports submitted by RIMS suggests that more than 60 per cent of Prasad’s kidney has been damaged and has reached on such a stage that it might cause failure of Kidney unless examined by specialized hospitals and doctors.
“He had undergone valve replacement in 2014 at Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai which is still not functioning properly. Moreover, reports of AIIMS suggests that his blood pressure drops suddenly due to which he has a tendency of falling down suddenly while standing and hence Prasad urgently requires cardiac vascular checkup where he has been operated,” Singhvi stated.
The increasing leucocytes count, as evident from the reports of RIMS and AIIMS as well, indicates infection in his blood which may further cause infection in his artificial valve and vessels and hence he requires immediately specialized treatment, he said.
Singhvi giving an account of type-II diabetes mellitus he has been suffering which might further damage the kidney, submitted before the Court that Prasad’s medical condition was such that there was a high risk to his life and requires close monitoring of blood sugar, blood pressure, kidney function and heart which was not at all possible in judicial custody.
“Thus, the petitioner is in a critical stage and his life is at risk any moment therefore he may be granted provisional bail to get him treated at specialized hospitals,” said Singhvi.
The CBI counsel strongly objected the submissions made by Singhvi that the report given by AIIMS was managed and said that the report of experts could not be ignored and neither AIIMS or RIMS has anywhere mentioned that Prasad required specialized treatment. He was referred to RIMS again on May 1 after the doctors of AIIMS got satisfied with his test reports.
“The Court, however, observed that looking at reports of AIIMS and RIMS as well, it appears that Prasad is in a critical stage and hence needs to be treated in super specialty hospital,” said CBI Counsel Rajiv Sinha.
Earlier, hearing the quashing petition filed by RJD leaders Tejaswi Yadav, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Shivanand Tiwari and Congress leader Manish Tiwari following contempt notices issued by Special CBI Court of Shivpal Singh, the court quashed the notice as well as order calling the notice as illegal.
“The contempt notice as well as orders passed in this regard was quashed by the Court, saying that it was beyond the jurisdiction of the Special CBI Court. The Court also observed that the matter did not call for contempt notice as it was issued only on the basis of reporting in newspapers without naming them,” Sinha said.
Prasad has been lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail since December 23 after a Special CBI Court convicted and sentenced him for a three-and-half-year jail term in a fodder scam case. Subsequently, he has been sentenced to varying periods in different fodder scam cases.