LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has declared the constitution and report of a special medical board as without lawful authority which recommended to shift a jail inmate Muhammad Hashim back to Sargodha jail.
The court, however, advised the complainant to make a fresh application before trial court for examination of Hasham which shall decide it in accordance with the law.
The court also noted that the jail superintendent did not obtain any order from the Inspector General as required by law and shifted Hasham to the Lahore General Hospital on a letter of the Medical Superintendent, DHQ Teaching Hospital, Sargodha.
The court observed that jail rule 197 said that if the prisoner is required to be removed to a hospital in another station, the jail superintendent cannot do it on his own.
The court, therefore, directed the Inspector General Prisons to hold an inquiry and take appropriate steps to ensure that no such thing happens in any prison in the province in future and submit his report within 30 days.
The complainant had got an FIR lodged under sections 365, 337-F(vi) and 34 PPC against petitioner’s son Muhammad Hasham Makhdoom and three others at police station Kot Momin, Sargodha. The police arrested Hasham and he was shifted to the District Jail, Sargodha, as an under trial prisoner.
During his confinement Hasham complained of severe backache and numbness of left leg. He was given conservative treatment at the jail hospital but his condition did not improve. Later, he was referred to the Lahore General Hospital (LGH) for further investigation and treatment. At present he is admitted in Unit-II of the Punjab Institute of Neurological Sciences (PINS) of LGH.
The complainant made an application for constitution of a special medical board for examination of Hasham alleging that he was malingering. Consequently, a three-member special medical board examined Hasham and concluded that there is strong element of malingering and he has no active neurological or neurosurgical illness demanding admission in tertiary care hospital. He may be referred back to Sargodha Civil Hospital and subsequently to jail if local hospital decides so.
The petitioner, therefore, made an application for constitution of another medical board for re-examination of Hasham which is still pending.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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