Bail for dead man: Experts want probe

The grant of bail by the Mumbai sessions court to a diabetic amputee undertrial prisoner two days after he died has raised questions about the lack of communication between various arms of the statemdashprison authorities government hospitals police and prosecutorsSuresh Dattaram Pawar 65 died on May 9 days after his lawyer had applied for bail on health grounds alleging that his condition worsened due to apathy at the JJ hospital On May 11 the court granted bail on medical and humanitarian grounds as it was shockingly not informed about Pawarrsquos death In December 2021 midday reported about Pawarrsquos arrest along with his wife for allegedly cheating several people to the tune of R2 crore promising homes at a cheap rate lsquoMahimrsquos Bunty caught Babli secures bailrsquo Dec 23 2021Negligence cost him a legPawarrsquos lawyer Advocate A Karim Pathan said ldquoThe state machinery failed to communicate to the court the news of an undertrial personrsquos demise The court would not have released the bail order two days after my clientrsquos death had it been informedrdquoA small toe injury that Pawar sustained at Arthur Road jail got worse due to lack of care at the prison hospital He was taken to JJ hospital in February for surgical intervention An earlier advocate of Pawar moved the Bombay High Court which directed the jail authorities to provide him medical attention In April an infection in Pawarrsquos operated leg worsened due to septicaemia blood poisoning and in the third week of April his leg had to be amputatedldquoWe came across glaring lapses during the course of treatment at JJ hospital and the next of kin is mulling legal recourserdquo said KarimNot enough doctorsLegal and human rights experts demanded a probe into the mixupValay Singh project lead The India Justice Report New Delhi said ldquoThis is a clear indicator of absence of communication between courts and jails Developing sepsis indicates medical negligence It is evident in the numbers of doctors in jails As per Prison Statistics India only 44 doctors were sanctioned for 60 jails in the state of which only 35 were actually appointed This averages 1053 inmates per doctor The Model Prison Manual mandates one doctor for every 300 inmatesrdquoSingh said various subsystems need to communicate better and called for a probe ldquoWe need to lay down SOPs and equip ground staff with digital tools to ensure such instances do not happen It seems there were lapses at more than one levelrdquo he saidA lawyerrsquos responsibilityIt is the duty of a lawyer ldquoto uphold the interests of his clientrdquo Right to communicate with counsel is an essential element of a fair trial While the Supreme Court in Imtiyaz Ramzan Khan v the State of Maharashtra 2018 has directed legal services institutions to ensure effective communication between the legal aid lawyer and client private lawyers are outside the accountability processldquoBar councils across India should urgently ensure effective communication between lawyer and client especially those who are in custodyrdquo said Sugandha Mathur senior programme officer Prison Reforms Programme Commonwealth Human Rights InitiativeWhose fault is itMohammed Tasnimul Hassan law student Jamia Millia Islamia Delhi said the advocate and police may not have informed the court about the applicantrsquos death despite it happening in custodyldquoThis is a glaring example of systemic ignorance of prisoners as people with fundamental constitutional rightsrdquo he said ldquoOnce a case is registered it takes years for the accused to stand trial and even more years for a verdict Granting bail to a dead prisoner highlights the need for comprehensive reforms It exposes the gaps and inefficiencies that plague our legal framework demanding a reassessment of procedures and a commitment to upholding the principles of justice The overall functioning of the criminal justice system should be improved by abandoning overcriminalisation ensuring police accountability and resorting to a liberal interpretation of the idea of bailrdquo