FCC stresses equal treatment as Adiala inmates seek private hospital transfers
The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Monday observed that the jail manual was “clear” on the treatment and transfer of prisoners to hospitals, stressing that all inmates must be treated equally and that any orders regarding their medical care must comply with the law.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan made the observations while hearing petitions seeking medical facilities for Adiala jail prisoners on the same basis as those provided to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan.
The court said Rule 197 of the jail manual contained no ambiguity and noted that the government was responsible for bearing the expenses of a prisoner’s treatment under the provision.
Justice Amir Farooq observed that treatment at a private hospital was contrary to the jail manual and questioned why prisoners could not instead be treated at PIMS or Polyclinic.
Justice Ali Baqar Najafi questioned the purpose of the jail manual if its provisions were not followed. “The jail manual is absolutely clear. There should be no unequal treatment,” he said.
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A lawyer representing one of the prisoners told the court that his client had been taken to hospital eight times in two months. He argued that the prisoner needed to be shifted to a private hospital for better treatment and said hospital reports supported his case.
During the hearing, the lawyer referred to a Supreme Court (SC) case concerning Imran Khan. “If that is the case, you should have filed a petition in the Supreme Court,” the chief justice said, asking why the lawyer had not become a party to the proceedings.
The lawyer replied that the case had been filed through a constitutional petition and that an appeal against such a petition could be heard by the FCC.
Justice Najafi said the lawyer was relying on the jail manual in his arguments and reiterated that different procedures could not be adopted for different prisoners. “If the jail manual is not to be followed, then what is its purpose?” he asked.
The judge said the lawyer’s position was that there should be no discrimination in the treatment of prisoners.
The court issued notices to the attorney general of Pakistan and other parties on appeals filed by the three prisoners. The FCC admitted the case for preliminary hearing and issued the notices by the following day.
The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday.
Read More: Imran-like facilities: prisoners move FCC
The SC on August 18 ordered that Imran be taken to Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital within two days for medical examination and treatment, directing the government to constitute a specialised medical board for his care.
The three-member bench also directed the government and relevant officers to facilitate meetings between Imran and his family members once a week along with facilitating telephone conversations between him and his sons twice a week.
In the wake of the SC order, three inmates at Adiala Jail- Owais Altaf, Ilyas Khan and Mohammad Ismail – approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC), seeking treatment at private hospitals and permission to speak to their families abroad via WhatsApp.
The IHC on August 31 dismissed the petitions, ruling that the prisoners could not claim treatment at a private hospital as a fundamental right without a medical board determining that the required treatment was unavailable either at the jail hospital or at a government hospital.
The IHC noted that the SC’s August 18 directions were interim in nature and that the case cited by the petitioners was still pending before the apex court. “An interim order cannot be treated as a final judgment,” the court observed.
The inmates later approached the FCC, seeking annulment of the IHC decision and requested the court to direct the authorities to provide them with the same medical facilities available to the PTI founder.
They argued that Article 25 of the Constitution guaranteed equal treatment to all citizens, while an order of the SC in the matter remained in force.
According to the petitions, the prisoners also sought directions to allow them to speak to people abroad through WhatsApp, on the same basis as the facility provided to Imran in light of the SC’s order.Read More