SC directs AIIMS to set up board to examine health condition of NewsClick founder

With aims to examine the health condition of NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha, the Supreme Court said AIIMs to set up a medical board and submit a report in two weeks. Notably, the news click founder was arrested by the probe agency in a money laundering case under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed AIIMS to set up a medical board to examine the health condition of NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha, currently lodged in Tihar Jail in a case registered against him under anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta asked the director of AIIMS to constitute the board and submit a report in two weeks.

"Taking into consideration all this, it will be appropriate that the medical condition is examined by a board appointed by the AIIMS director. The board shall also consider the jail records and complete medical history of petitioner," it said. The direction came after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Purkayastha, submitted that the report filed by the prison authorities about his client's medical condition was not correct.

The Delhi High Court had on October 13 dismissed the pleas filed by Purkayastha and the news portal's human resources department head Amit Chakravarty against their arrest and subsequent police remand in the case. Both were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on October 3. According to the FIR lodged in the case, huge funds came to the news portal allegedly from China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause disaffection against the country.

It also alleged that Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.