Activist Umar Khalid told a court on Wednesday that Tihar jail superintendents had not provided appropriate medical care for the past three days, after he complained of a toothache, PTI reported. Khalid, a former student leader from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, is lodged in jail in connection with the Delhi riots case.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Dinesh Kumar directed prison officials to provide medical assistance and file a compliance report within two days. “If the dentist is not available in the jail for check up till next day, the accused may be taken to a dentist outside the prison for the check up and for the treatment, if required,” the court said.
Khalid had told the court that the dentist who was scheduled to visit the jail on Wednesday did not arrive, and added that he was in pain, making it difficult for him to wait another week for the doctor’s visit.
Khalid was arrested on October 1 in connection with the Delhi riots case. His judicial custody was extended earlier this month by 14 days. Clashes had broken out between the supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it between February 23 and February 26 in North East Delhi, claiming 53 lives and injuring hundreds. The police were accused of either inaction or complicity in some instances of violence, mostly in Muslim neighbourhoods.
Khalid was also arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in September in a separate case relating to a larger conspiracy in the violence. The Delhi Police had on November 22 filed a chargesheet against Khalid and student activists Sharjeel Imam and Faizan Khan in the case.
In the 200-page chargesheet, the police claimed that Khalid had “remotely controlled” the Delhi riots. The former JNU student was accused of orchestrating the violence during United States President Donald Trump’s visit to Delhi.
The Delhi Police claim the violence was part of a larger conspiracy to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and was planned by those who organised the protests against the amended Citizenship Amendment Act. They also claimed the protestors had secessionist motives and were using “the facade of civil disobedience” to destabilise the government. The police have arrested several activists and students based on these “conspiracy” charges.
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