No house arrest for jailed PFI leader: Delhi High Court

Hearing a plea by E Abubacker against a trial court order refusing to release him on medical grounds the Delhi High Court on Monday said the jailed former chairman of the Popular Front of India will be provided medical treatment but not kept in house arrestWhen you are asking for medical bail why should we send you to your house We will send you to a hospital remarked a bench headed by Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant SinghLast month Abubackers counsel had said that the 70yearold had cancer and Parkinsons disease and was in great pain which needed urgent medical supervision Abubacker was arrested by the agency during a massive crackdown on the banned organisation earlier this year and is presently in judicial custodyThe bench on Monday remarked that there was no provision in law for a house arrest and directed that Abubacker be escorted safely to AIIMS in custody for an oncosurgery review on December 22 and also permitted his son to remain present at the time of consultationWe are not granting you house arrest There is no provision in law for house arrest The honourable Supreme Court has powers which this court does not the court saidAlso read V D Savarkars portrait unveiled in Karnataka assembly hall Opposition stages protests outsideWe dont see anything appropriate in this because no surgery has been recommended We cant grant you house arrest first of all If your medical condition requires hospitalisation we can direct hospitalisation We may permit an attendant We are not permitting anything else added the court He is entitled to medical treatment and that we will provide the court saidThe court listed the case for further consideration in January next year and directed the jail medical superintendent to file a report on the consultation with the oncosurgery department of AIIMS Lawyer Adit Pujari appearing for Abubacker argued that he needed constant monitoring and treatment and even if he is sent to house arrest there would be no qualitative difference for the investigating agencySpecial public prosecutor Akshai Malik appearing for NIA stated that the accused was being provided best possible treatment and he was due to meet an oncologist on December 22Last week he had said that Abubacker was absolutely fine and receiving treatmentLast month the court had asserted that requisite medical treatment will be provided to the accused while rejecting the submission that he should be sent to house arrestWe are not inclined to do that AIIMS is a premier hospital in the country If you are using this as a pretext for house arrest we are not granting that We are only concerned with his medical condition the court had saidThe court also said that it was going to hear the appeal for medical treatment and the accused could approach the trial court for seeking regular bail The NIA had said that the agency was not opposing medical treatment to the accused and the investigation in the case was ongoingA large number of alleged PFI activists were detained or arrested in several states during the massive raids preceding the nationwide ban imposed on September 28 In nearsimultaneous raids across the country as part of a multiagency operation spearheaded by the NIA a large number of PFI activists were detained or arrested in 11 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country The arrests were made in states and Union Territories including Kerala Maharashtra Karnataka Tamil Nadu Assam Uttar Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Puducherry Delhi and RajasthanThe government banned the PFI and several of its associate organisations on September 28 for five years under the stringent antiterror law UAPA accusing them of having links with global terror groups like the ISISThis 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