Mehdi appeals for ‘dignified medical care’ for terminally ill separatist leader

National Conference leader and MP Ruhullah Mehdi has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure “dignified medical care” to jailed separatist leader Shabir Shah, who is battling a “life-threatening illness”.

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Mehdi, in his letter, wrote that the life of an elderly detainee was hanging in the balance. “By every humane and legal standard, the 70-year-old Shah is entitled to receive medical treatment with dignity and fairness.”

“His doctors have recommended three surgeries for serious medical conditions – including life-threatening prostate cancer. Despite the gravity of his condition, he remains incarcerated since 2017, without family support,” he said.

The MP said during his medical visit to Safdarjung Hospital on May 1, his family had alleged that he was subjected to harassment and degrading treatment by escorting officers, and that access to his medical records was also being withheld from them.

“Our country has legal and moral obligations, under both its Constitution and international treaties to ensure that prisoners are treated with humanity,” he said.

Mehdi said there are clear precedents in domestic law in support of fair medical treatment of undertrials. Zahoor Watali and Gautam Navlakha were both granted house arrest on medical and humanitarian grounds by Indian courts, he said.

“These decisions acknowledged that incarceration must not come at the cost of life and dignity, particularly when there is no proven risk of escape or subversion. Why the same consideration can’t be extended to Shah, whose legal status remains that of an under-trial, is a question his family has constantly raised,” he said.

The MP urged the Home Minister to ensure that Shabir Shah is provided dignified medical care in a facility equipped for cancer treatment. “This process must involve his family in all medical decisions, as permitted by law,” he said.

The NC leader remarked that a nation is measured by how it treats its weakest. Let us not fail that test, he said.

According to Shah’s family, he is gravely ill and has been advised multiple surgeries. The family alleged that there was no proper care and no access to medical records. He was not allowed even a single phone call in two years, they added.

All Valley-based opposition leaders, including People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti, have urged the Union Government to take a humanitarian view of the situation.