NEW DELHI: Refusing the plea of Popular Front of India (PFI)’s former chief E Abubacker seeking house arrest instead of imprisonment at Tihar on health grounds, the Delhi High Court on Monday said it will direct him to get treatment at AIIMS. A division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh also allowed his son to accompany to the hospital for his cancer consultation and treatment.
During the hearing, the court asserted that the Supreme Court’s orders in activist Gautam Navlakha’s case, in which the apex court considered his health condition for house arrest, cannot be used as a ‘template’ here. “The Hon’ble Supreme Court has powers that this court does not have. If your medical condition requires hospitalisation, we can direct that,” the court said.
Abubacker’s counsel submitted that his client is old and suffers from Parkinson’s disease and at least an attendant should be allowed to be with him, on which his son was allowed to accompany him to AIIMS for his scheduled visit on December 22.
The next hearing in the case would be on January 5. Abubacker, hailing from Kerala was arrested on September 22 by NIA over links with with global terrorrist groups like IS.