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Journalism of Courage
The Delhi home department has forwarded a letter to the health department ordering constitution of a medical board to ascertain the present condition of death row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar whose petition for commuting his sentence to a life term was rejected by the Supreme Court last week.
The letter signed by the secretary,home department of the Delhi government has also been forwarded to the Tihar jail authorities.
Sources said a copy of the letter has been sent to the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS where Bhullar has been admitted since December 2010. The order states that the medical board should comprise doctors from different government hospitals.
The letter,the sources said,did not specify whether IHBAS doctors,who have been treating Bhullar,should be on the board or whether the institute should initiate the process of constituting the board. The letter also did not mention any date by which the board should be constituted or the examination completed.
Authorities at IHBAS said they would be writing to the jail authorities and health department on Wednesday to request that the board be an independent one with no participation of doctors from IHBAS who have been involved in Bhullars treatment.
Dr Nimesh Desai,IHBAS director,said: It is great that a medical board is being constituted,because now a proper medical opinion of the patients condition can be ascertained by experts,and the due process will be followed. But we will be writing to the authorities on Wednesday,requesting that the doctors on the board be from outside IHBAS,so that it is an independent opinion.
As per the jail manual,a death row convict has to be declared physically and mentally fit by a medical board consisting of specialists from different disciplines,before execution of the death sentence.
Director General (Prisons) Vimla Mehra declined to comment on the letter.
Last Friday,hours after the Supreme Court rejected Bhullars plea,IHBAS doctors said their medical opinion on the death row convict was never sought. They maintained that their diagnosis of depression with psychotic features still stands,and that Bhullar has a tendency of suicidal behaviour.
