Nawab Malik given specialised medical care, right to health not curtailed: HC rejects bail plea

A single-judge bench of Justice Anuja Prabhudessai refused relief to Malik on Thursday and a detailed order was made available on Saturday.

The ED arrested the former minister on February 23 last year in a money laundering case registered over the Goawala compound property in Kurla, allegedly linked to fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. He has been in judicial custody since March 2022. He has been admitted to Criticare Hospital, Kurla, since May 2022. The special court had said he would remain in the hospital until further orders.

“There can be no dispute that the right to health is recognized as an important facet of Article 21. It is a right available to every person including an undertrial prisoner or convict. In fact, failure of the State to provide proper medical aid to the prisoners, who are largely dependent on the jail authorities, would be in violation of right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution,” it said.

However, the bench noted that in the present case, the applicant having several pre-existing ailments was admitted to the state-run JJ Hospital from February 25 to 28 last year and later as well. Moreover, he is being treated at Criticare Asia, a multi specialty hospital of his choice since May 17, 2022, it pointed out.

“The applicant is provided with adequate, effective and specialized medical assistance, and his health condition is being monitored by the doctors specialised in the field. Hence, his right to health or right to life is not curtailed or infringed in any manner,” the court observed.

“Under the circumstances, and in the absence of compelling reasons warranting grant of interim bail on medical grounds, I am not inclined to exercise discretion in granting bail to the applicant under proviso to Section 45(1) of the PMLA. Hence the plea for temporary bail on medical grounds is dismissed,” Justice Prabhudessai held.

Senior advocate Amit Desai, representing Malik, had argued that the applicant’s health had deteriorated over the last eight months, and his kidney problem aggravated after his arrest. Desai said Malik suffered from chronic kidney disease and has only one functional kidney and that too has deteriorated and presently functioning with 60 per cent capacity, and the Supreme Court has considered it a ground for medical bail in several cases previously.

Desai had sought a sympathetic approach from the court as it involved Malik’s fundamental right of personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The central agency, through Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh, argued that Malik had been receiving proper treatment by prison authorities and later in a private hospital soon after his arrest, and he could bear the cost. Therefore, there was no need to grant him interim bail on medical grounds and his condition was not as critical as it was being portrayed in the plea, the agency argued.

The court will hear Malik’s plea on merits on July 27.