JOIN USSC orders medical examination of arrested YSR Congress MP
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered for giving medical care to YSR Congress MP Kanumuri Raghu Rama Krishna Raju, at an Army hospital in Secunderabad as he allegedly suffered custodial torture after his arrest on sedition charges.
The MP had criticised the party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
A vacation bench of Justices Vineet Saran and B R Gavai directed that he should be taken to the hospital for his examination by a board of three doctors under the supervision of a judicial officer.
The court also directed that his medical examination should be videographed.
"We direct that the petitioner, Raju shall be admitted in the Army Hospital and kept there for medical care until further orders, which shall be treated as his judicial custody," the bench said.
The court directed Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary to carry out its order forthwith and ensure that Raju reached the Army hospital on Monday itself.
The top court passed its order on two separate petitions filed by the MP against Andhra Pradesh High Court's orders of May 15, declining him bail and ordering his medical examination at a government hospital, Guntur.
In a related development, TV5, which telecast the speech of the accused MP, approached the top court through advocate Vipin Nair for quashing of FIR against it. The FIR sought to criminalise the act of airing the views of a sitting MP, who is a public figure, which is not only clearly violative of the petitioner’s right to freedom of speech and expression and also creates a chilling effect for media houses in the state, it claimed.
Narsapuram MP, Raju was arrested by the Andhra Pradesh Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on May 14 for sedition, weeks after the rebel leader asked a CBI special court to cancel the bail granted to his party founder, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, in a disproportionate assets case.
Appearing for the politician, senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and B Adinarayan Rao contended that the FIR was filed against the MP because of political vendetta. They claimed charges against him were bogus.
The bench, however, said at this stage, it was not inclined to go into the merits of the allegations.
"We are concerned with the medical condition of the petitioner," the bench noted and referred to Judicial Magistrate having noted the contention that the police had used third-degree methods against him during his custody and he was unable to walk and also that he had undergone heart by-pass surgery in December 2020.
Senior advocates Dushyant Dave and V Giri, appearing for the AP government agreed to the medical examination of the petitioner at the Army hospital. They sought two days time to file their reply to the petitions against the HC's orders.
The court posted the matter for consideration on May 21.