The Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, currently lodged in Tihar jail after being arrested in connection with the anti-CAA violence in Old Delhi’s Daryaganj on December 21, is unwell and needs immediate medical care, claimed the Bhim Army on Saturday.
However, rejecting the claims of the organisation, a senior jail official said Azad was “absolutely fine” and no such issue had come to their notice during routine medical check-ups by the official jail doctor.
Bhim Army claims its jailed chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad is unwell and needs immediate medical care. Senior jail official says Aazad ‘absolutely fine’
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 4, 2020
Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad had been arrested in connection with the violence in Old Delhi’s Daryagan on December 21, a day after his outfit defied a Police ban and organised a march from Jama Masjid to Jantar Mantar against the new citizenship law.
The Delhi Police had denied permission to Chandrashekhar Azad’s protest march against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act from Jama Masjid to Jantar Mantar. Reports say that thousands of Muslims gathered at Jama Masjid after the Friday prayers, joined by Bhim Army members.
Prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144 were in place near the Red Fort area then, however, defying the orders the Bhim Army members had hit the streets in the national capital on December 20.
On the day of the march, Azad had given a slip to the Delhi Police after the security personnel tried to detain him. He came outside Jama Masjid early Saturday (December 21) and was detained. He was arrested later, police said. After being detained, Azad was kept at the Crime Branch office in Chanakyapuri since he said he was unwell. He was later handed over to the central district police.
Following his arrest, he was taken to a hospital for a medical check-up after which the court sent him to 14-day judicial custody to Tihar jail. His bail plea was rejected by a Delhi court on December 21. The court had further sent 15 others, arrested in connection with the violence at Daryaganj, to two days’ judicial custody.
Police had suspected Azad instigated the crowd which turned violent near Delhi Gate and burnt a car.
Bhim Army spokesperson Kush Ambedkarwadi, who had met the jailed chief on Friday, said Azad has been undergoing treatment for the disease for the past one-and-a-half years, which requires biweekly phlebotomy, a “procedure to remove extra red blood cells from the blood to treat certain blood disorders”, and that he had told authorities at the Tihar Jail, where he is currently lodged, about it.
Meanwhile, Azad’s doctor Harjeet Singh Bhatti has claimed: “If Azad doesn’t get immediate medical care, his blood might get thicker and he may suffer a cardiac arrest. The jail authorities are not allowing him to visit AIIMS,” he said.
“This is inhuman and clear violation of human rights. I request Delhi Police and (Home Minister) Amit Shah to get him admitted to AIIMS,” he posted on Twitter.
The jail authorities, however, said medical assistance will be provided to Azad if the need arises.
