PFI case: Atiqur Rehman returns to Mathura jail

Mathura Jail Superintendent Brajesh Kumar said PhD activist Atiqur Rehman was again lodged in jail after being treated for severe aortic regurgitation (AR) at AIIMS. Rehman's counsel Madhuban Datt Chaturvedi said the next hearing in High Court for bail has been fixed for January 7.

Mathura (UP): Dec 21 (PTI) PhD activist Atiqur Rehman, who was sent to AIIMS about a month ago for heart-related illness, has again been sent back to Mathura Jail on Tuesday, officials said.

"Undertrial Atiqur Rehman was again lodged in Mathura Jail Hospital after he was discharged from AIIMS where he was operated for cardiac problems," said Brajesh Kumar, Jail Superintendent, Mathura Jail.

He said the undertrial will again be taken to AIIMS from Jail as advised by the doctors of the prestigious institution.

He was operated for severe aortic regurgitation (AR) meaning the destruction of the aortic wall in the heart, a pre-condition for cardiac arrest, on November 27.

Though a PMLA court in Lucknow in September had expressed the gravity of the case and the necessity to send him for operation in AIIMS or some other medical institution of repute, the court order was implemented after a fortnight on October 8.

The AIIMS authorities on October 8 asked jail authorities to complete formalities including submission of Rs 2 two lakh for the operation but the money was not released by the government for about two months even though a request for money was sent by jail authorities according to instructions from AIIMS.

Worried over the delay, Rehman through his father-in-law Shekhawat Khan filed an application in the High Court with a habeas corpus petition pending since last year.

The next hearing in a special NIA court is slated for January 7, Rehman's counsel Madhuban Datt Chaturvedi said.

He said the next hearing in High Court for bail has been fixed for January 27.

Rehman, journalists Siddique Kappan and their two associates were arrested by Mathura police on October 5,2020 while they were proceeding to Hathras where a Dalit woman allegedly was gang-raped and killed.

They were earlier booked for breach of peace and later more stringent sedition and laws of IT were slapped on them.

PTI