CM Kejriwal’s request for daily medical video consultations is denied by the court

NEW DELHI: On Monday, a Delhi court denied Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s request to consult with a private physician via video conference. The court agreed with the Tihar Jail authorities that Kejriwal cannot be treated differently from other prisoners and that all of them must be subject to the same laws and jail manual.

The judgment said that the request for private treatment may only be granted if the prison administration was unable to offer the necessary medical facilities.
Additionally, it turned down Kejriwal’s request for insulin, stating that someone with hyperglycemia cannot get insulin based only on his desire.

It mandated that the director of AIIMS form a medical board to oversee the chief minister’s inmate care.

The board will need to report as soon as possible to the special judge Kaveri Baweja’s court, stating whether or not Kejriwal needs to be given insulin at this time. The prison officials will make the choice to seek any future medical assistance from a specialist after consulting with the medical board, which includes a senior endocrinologist and a diabetologist.

Through his attorneys, senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Ramesh Gupta, Kejriwal had argued in court that the jail administration’s refusal to provide insulin to him in spite of his repeated requests was both a grave medical negligence case and a violation of his fundamental right to health.
But the court also noted that “it has also emerged from the statement of the ED and the prison authorities that the applicant has never asked that insulin be administered to him. The court said that the petitioner has been off insulin since February 2024.

The court has requested that the board, which has not yet been created, provide a food and exercise regimen that takes into account Kejriwal’s medical needs, vital statistics, and physical examination while he is incarcerated. This request is included in a 15-page ruling.
Home-cooked meals will still be given to CM as long as it closely adheres to the diet that the medical board has recommended.

The court noted that the home-cooked meals being given differed significantly from the diet that his own physician had advised. “Illustratively stated, there is no specific mention of mangoes and vegetables like potatoes and arbi in the applicant’s diet chart,” the statement said.
As stated by Kejriwal himself, the court expressed her inability to understand why the CM’s family had been providing goods like as mangoes, chocolates, aloo puri, and other items that were not part of his medically advised diet.

In response to the CM’s legal team’s claim that mangoes have a lower glycaemic index than brown or white rice, the court noted that Kejriwal’s own physician did not advise him to eat mangoes in accordance with the diet plan that the CM submitted to the court on April 1, 2024.

According to the judgment, the prison administration is responsible for making sure that the medically advised diet is followed at all times. Any instances of non-compliance should be reported to this court right away. It was clear that while the prison administration had known for some time what Kejriwal was ingesting, they had not taken any action to stop him or informed the court of this.

The court noted that “it is stated that all inmates in Delhi jails receive round-the-clock medical attention and that the jail has its own health infrastructure in place and that there are systems of referral to higher medical institutes for emergencies care/specialized medical interventions.”