ATC rejects plea for Imran’s treatment by personal doctors

RAWALPINDI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi on Saturday dismissed an application filed by PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan that sought his medical check-up by his own doctors in Adiala jail.

Upon hearing from both sides, the court decided against granting access to Mr. Khan’s own doctors inside the jail.

While defending the PTI founder, counsel Faisal Malik said that given the fact that the former prime minister was being provided with the same medical facilities that had been accorded in the past to other former prime ministers, in this case, Nawaz Sharif, Mr Khan, being an undertrial prisoner, had the legal right to seek medical treatment at the hands of the doctors that he chose. Further, the lawyer said that the Adiala jail lacked medical facilities for eye treatment.

Referring to the Pakistan Prison Rules, Mr. Malik said that Rule 795 stated that the family of the prisoner must be informed before medical treatment.

He expressed surprise that Mr. Khan was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) the previous night, stating that he had not been taken out of jail for the last three years. He referred to the denial of access to doctors as discriminatory.

Opposition to the plea was raised by the Special Prosecutor, Zaheer Shah, who contended that while Mr. Khan was on bail in the GHQ attack case regarding the May 9 events, he was also convicted in other cases. Thus, he could not be treated as an under-trial prisoner whose custody was subject to the jurisdiction of a criminal court.

He further contended that the ATC had no jurisdiction to give any kind of directions regarding jail administrative issues or the arrangements regarding the medical facilities of the prisoner. According to the prison rules, he said, the responsibility of providing medical facilities belonged to government-appointed doctors, whereas there was no mention of appointing private doctors.