'Severely ill', Kin of Atik Ur Rahman requests Mathura DM to shift him to AIIMS

Mathura (UP): The father-in-law of Atik Ur Rahman, a PFI activist, who was arrested along with three others when he was going to Hathras, has written to the district magistrate, requesting him to shift the activist lodged as an undertrial in Mathura jail to AIIMS as he is severely ill, the counsel for the activist said.

"Suffering from aortic regurgitation since childhood, Atiqur Rahman developed serious cardiac and respiratory complications on September 22 while being taken to the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) special court in Lucknow from Mathura jail, as he was required to appear before the court," Madhuban Datt Chaturvedi, the counsel for Rahman, quoting the letter given to the DM on September 23, said.

He said Rahman was first rushed to CHC Khandari, then district hospital Agra and finally to SN Medical College Agra, where doctors after giving him initial treatment, advised shifting him to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi or SGPGI Lucknow.

In spite of medical advice for expert treatment, Rahman, again, was admitted to the hospital of Mathura jail after keeping him waiting for entry in the jail for over one hour on September 22, the counsel for the alleged Popular Front of India (PFI) activist said quoting the letter.

Delhi-based Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan and three others, including Rahman, were arrested by Mathura police on October 5 last year, while they were on their way to a village in Hathras to meet the family members of the Dalit girl, who had died in a Delhi hospital while undergoing treatment after a gangrape in her village.

The four were arrested earlier on the apprehension of causing a breach of peace but were later slapped with stern charges of sedition and being involved in various terror offenses.

Through a request by the Judicial and administrative authorities has been made earlier several times for shifting him to AIIMS, however, all the requests were ignored, the letter to the DM alleged.

Since the trial has not yet started and since the presumption of his innocence cannot be ruled out, a request for shifting him to AIIMS or any other medical institution of repute was made in the letter, he added