Court asks Tihar to provide better medical aid to Dec 16 accused

A special court today directed the Tihar jail authorities to provide proper medical care to one of the December 16 gangrape accused, who is not keeping well and has been hospitalised for last several days.

Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna passed the order after accused Vinay Sharma's counsel claimed in the court that his client is in a critical condition and not getting proper medical treatment as the doctors of government hospital where he is admitted are on strike.

The judge also asked the jail authorities to find out whether the doctors were on strike and to inform him if Vinay can be shifted to a private hospital.

"The jail superintendent is directed to look into the matter. If doctors are on strike then make arrangements to shift the accused Vinay to another hospital where better facilities are available.

"See if he can be shifted to any other private hospital. Tell me if as per jail manual, I can send him to another hospital at government expense," the court said.

Special Public Prosecutor Dayan Krishnan denied claims of Vinay's counsel A P Singh, saying the doctors were on strike only for a few hours.

The court, however, said, "If doctors were on strike than why have you (jail) sent the accused to this hospital."

Vinay has not attended court proceedings since May 8 as he is not keeping well.
Vinay and five others, including a juvenile, are accused of gangraping a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus here on the night of December 16, 2012. The girl died of her injuries in a Singapore hospital on December 29.

Yesterday, the court had rejected Vinay's 15 days interim bail plea for his medical treatment.

Vinay was being treated at Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital which had later referred him to a higher medical centre and he was then shifted to Lok Nayak Hospital (LNH) where he is currently admitted.

His lawyer told the court that when he visited Vinay in the hospital his condition was critical as he was not being given proper medicine or even a blanket.

Earlier, Vinay had alleged that his hand was broken in jail after he was attacked by his cell inmates, an allegation denied by the prison authorities.

Vinay, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh are facing trial in the case, while the proceedings against the main accused Ram Singh have abated after he had allegedly committed suicide in his cell on March 11. The sixth accused is facing proceedings before a Juvenile Justice Board.

Meanwhile, the court today also recorded the statement of a Delhi police official, who had initially investigated the case and had arrested bus driver Ram Singh and seized the vehicle in which the crime was committed.

The official told the court that the victim's male friend had identified the bus in which the six men had gangraped the girl and the main accused Ram Singh was arrested from the vehicle itself.