Staff Reporter
The Lahore High Court ordered on a petition to end the VIP culture in jails, emphasizing on the rights of the inmates.
The court on Friday heard the case of an ailing prisoner Fakhar Islam who prayed to the court to order the jail authorities to shift him to a hospital.
The LHC directed to send the court orders to all sessions judges, the IG Prisons and the Punjab IG Police.
While hearing the case, Justice Suhail Nasir said that the state machinery comes into action for a wealthy person and everything is accomplished for influential people in a jiffy. He said the court would not allow discrimination at all.
The judgement observed that the lengthy correspondence delay the decisions and it seems the IG Prisons only looks after the interests of the VIPs.
The court order said that ‘VIP’ also stands for ‘Very Important Prisoners’. It further observed that in the case of prisoner Islam, the IG Prisons and superintendent did not perform their duty. It said that the jail superintendent could get the permission on telephone.
The court ordered to shift the sick prisoner to the hospital in three days. It said that the application of the prisoner seeking shifting to the hospital must not be adjourned. It asked the sessions judges to dispose of the prisoner application in shortest possible time.
The judgement observed that as many as 2,100 jail inmates are suffering from AIDS, hepatitis and tuberculosis.
But the jail facilities do not have medical equipment to cure ailments. The hiring of medical staff is also still pending in jails. It said that 245 applications of sick prisoners seeking treatment are pending.
