Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s judicial custody extended till May 7, amid mango-mushroom debate [Read Order]

NEW DELHI: A Delhi Court has extended Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s judicial custody till May 7 in the Delhi liquor policy scam matter. In an application in the same case, while refusing to permit Kejriwal consultations with his private doctor, the Court has permitted him to consume home-cooked food.

Kejriwal, who is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in the case, had sought to consult his private doctor citing a spike in his blood sugar levels.

The Court rejected the same, stating that Kejriwal has to be treated at par with the other undertrial prisoners and that the Tihar Jail is well-equipped to provide for his current health condition.

It held, “...the Applicant cannot be treated differently from other inmates as laws/Jail Manual must apply equally to all. The request for private treatment can only be permitted if the Jail authorities are unable to provide the requisite medical facilities to the Appellant.”

However, the Court allowed him to consume home-cooked food, while issuing a strict warning that as has happened earlier, the home-cooked meals should not deviate from the diet chart prescribed by Kejriwal’s own doctor for his diabetic condition.

The prosecution had opposed Kejriwal’s application for private doctor consultations stating that he was “deliberately consuming mangoes” to spike his blood sugar levels.

In response, Kejriwal’s counsel had retorted if he should consume “mushrooms” instead (in a sarcastic reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s affinity for mushrooms).

The Court noted in its order that while the mango-mushroom arguments had been made quite vehemently in the courtroom, Kejriwal’s own doctor-prescribed diet chart (basis which he had sought permission for home-cooked food initially) had included mushrooms and excluded mangoes.

However, the Court also noted that not only had Kejriwal failed to adhere to the said diet chart, the Jail authorities had also not brought the deviation to the Court’s notice despite being in the know of exactly what food Kejriwal had been getting from home after his special permission.

While refusing Kejriwal relief, Judge Kaveri Baweja also noted that the jail authorities were well-equipped with medical facilities to deal with Kejriwal’s diabetic condition, and as opposed to his prayer for the same, insulin could not be administered ‘at will’, unless it was prescribed by the doctors.

Baweja further reasoned that whatever medicines could be administered were already being administered by the Jail doctor to Kejriwal, and that his blood sugar levels were being checked twice a day already.

In any case, the Court directed that Kejriwal’s situation be monitored and “in the event of any requirement for specialized consultation, the Jail authorities shall consult the Medical Board to be constituted by Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), comprising of a Senior Endocrinologist/Diabetologist, as per request dated 20.04.2024, already sent by DG Prisons.”
 

[Read Order]