Medical treatment was provided to activist Vernon Gonsalves in jail, court told

Activist Vernon Gonsalves an accused in the Elgar ParishadMaoist links case was under constant medical treatment in jail once his ill health came to light and before he was diagnosed with dengue and admitted to a government hospital prison authorities told a special NIA court here on MondayThe activist 65 who was in judicial custody and lodged at the Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai was on September 8 admitted to the staterun JJ Hospital where he is undergoing treatment for dengueOn the last hearing Gonsalvess lawyer and family members had alleged the jail authorities had delayed in providing medical treatment to the activist and he should have been admitted to the hospital in central Mumbai long backAdvocate Larsen Furtardo had filed an affidavit before the special National Investigation Agency NIA court saying he had taken a legal interview of some of the coaccused of the activist inside the prison on September 7During the interview the coaccused had said health condition of Gonsalves was visibly getting bad and he was only being given paracetamol and antibiotic tablets the affidavit saidThe special court had then asked the superintendent of the Taloja jail to submit a report to it Accordingly the superintendent submitted the report through special public prosecutor SPP Prakash Shetty on MondayThe SPP told the court continuous medical treatment was given to Gonsalves once the jail authorities came to know about his health conditionThe jail superintendent in his report has given a chronology of developments related to the activistThe prison hospital was not informed about Gonsalvess ill health till August 31 the report saidAlso Read Elgar Parishad case Vernon Gonsalves suffering from dengue lawyer tell courtTwo days later the accused visited the jail hospital with complains of fever and headache and was given medicines the superintendent maintainedOn September 3 the prisons medical officer visited Gonsalves in his barrack and gave him required medicines The following day the medical officer visited him again and this time administered him an injection said the reportOn September 5 as his fever was not subsiding a rapid malaria test was conducted which came negative He was asked to get admitted to the jail hospital but he refused it saidFurther in his report the jail superintendent said on September 6 the blood sample of the accused was collected and he was also checked by a physician Doctor of Medicine or MD from a hospital in nearby Panvel cityBased on the visiting physicians advice and following further discussion with the chief medical officer of the prison guards were called and Gonsalves was taken to JJ Hospital in central MumbaiHe was sent back to the jail from JJ Hospital after treatment A day later September 7 his blood test report was received and the activist was diagnosed with dengue but the accused could not be shifted to the hospital as guards were not available to escort him due to the Ganpati festival said the superintendentFinally on September 8 Gonsalves was admitted to the governmentrun hospital where he is still undergoing treatment for the mosquitoborne disease said the reportThe jail authorities also told the court a report on Gonsalvess health condition was sought from the JJ Hospital but since September 10 and 11 were holidays it hasnt been received yetThe medical report of the accused will be presented before the court as and when it was made available by the hospital they saidMeanwhile the special court on Monday permitted Gonsalvess wife Susan Abraham and his brother to meet him in the hospital daily for 30 minutesThe activists plea for temporary bail on medical grounds is likely to be heard by the court on TuesdayThe case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31 2017 which police claimed triggered violence the next day near the KoregaonBhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city located around 200km from MumbaiOne person was killed and several others were injured in the violenceThe case in which over a dozen activists and academicians have been named accused was initially probed by Pune police and later taken over by NIAThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever