Chennai : Claiming that more than 1,000 prisoners died in prisons in Tamil Nadu in the past 13 years for want of timely medical attention, a petition was filed in the Madras High Court today seeking adequate medical facilities in jails.
A bench comprising Chief Justice R K Agrawal and Justice K. Ravichandra Babu, before whom the matter came up, posted it for hearing after two weeks and directed the government pleader to get instructions from the concerned authorities.
The petitioner claimed though there had been no judicial execution in Tamil Nadu from 2000 tilll February 2013, around 1,095 prisoners died in the central prisons due to non-availability of medical treatment and “gross negligence” of the prison administration in not providing timely treatment.
Advocate Sankara Subbu, appearing for the petitioner, also submitted that except allopathy no other treatment of Indian medicine system was available.
He sought a direction to the authorities to provide 24-hours hospital facilities with life saving medicines in all central prisons in the state and an interim compensation of Rs. five lakhs be given to the families of the deceased prisoners.
The petitioner also wanted a direction to the authorities to provide alternative medicines like Ayurveda, Siddha and Homeopathy in the prisons.
