The plea also sought medical treatment, telephonic calls, the conduct of an X-ray, and a chair/stool to sit on.

NEW DELHI — The Delhi High Court on Monday sought a status report from jail authorities on a plea on behalf of Hardeep Singh alias Shera, who is accused of trans-national Khalistani operations among other charges by the NIA, alleging discrimination and torture in prison.

Directing the prison authorities to file their reply in the matter, Justice Chandra Dhari Singh posted the case for further hearing on August 18.

The plea, moved by his father through advocate Harpreet Singh Hora, contended that the jail authorities deprived him of his ‘Right to Life’ by not providing the basic amenities and medical assistance despite being aware of the fact that he has several injuries and body aches.

The plea also sought medical treatment, telephonic calls, the conduct of an X-ray, and a chair/stool to sit on.

During the course of the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel submitted that his client is unable to communicate from jail with his father and family members in Punjab where other inmates are provided with telephonic calls as per the jail manual.

It is settled law that the prisoners cannot be made laboratories of torture, warehouses in which human commodities can be sadistically kept, counsel said.

It is the core value of the Constitution of India that prisoners have unalienable rights conferred upon them by international treaties and covenants; they have a right to health and seek medical care/treatment whenever necessary, it stated.

Hardeep Singh who took on the name ‘Shera’, after gangster Khuban Shera, is currently lodged in the capital’s Rohini Jail. — IANS