SC grounds Chandraswami8217;s Israel flight

When counsel for Chandraswami, G L Sanghi, argued that the apex court has held that going abroad for treatment was a fundamental right, the Bench said it was so in case of a free citizen and not in the case of an undertrial.

After the counsel gave details of the illness of the accused, the Bench said quot;treatment is very good in India. We all get treated here.quot;

Chandraswami had sought two months time to go abroad, including a visit to an institute in Tel Aviv, to get treated for his various illnesses.

Chandraswami was granted bail in the cheating case on November 7, 1996 by the Supreme Court but was barred from leaving the country.

When he sought modification of the blanket ban, the Court on January 29, 1998 passed an order saying quot;Chandraswami will not leave the country unless permitted by the Court on such conditions as the Court may impose in that event.quot;

When the counsel repeatedly pressed for permission to go abroad for treatment, Justice Kirpal in a lighter vein observed, quot;till the trial gets over, ask your client to go on a strict diet as his present weight is over 100 kgs. One of the causes of all these illnesses is obesity.quot;

The cheating case accused also expressed his willingness to comply with quot;any condition which may be imposed on him excepting that he may be permitted to have the medical treatment abroad of his own choicequot;.

Chandraswami, who last went abroad in 1995, said the Delhi High Court had repeatedly granted him permission to go abroad in the normal course and added quot;there is no whisper that he had in the past ever misused or flouted such permission or had influenced witnesses.quot;

He said in his petition that quot;Though the treatment for an ailment may be available in India it is always a question of mental satisfaction and choice of a patient, which does work in healing the wounds at the earliest,quot; he said.