Kin of Jailed J&K Separatist Leader Requests PM Modi for Urgent Medical Care

Ruwa Shah alleged that her father Altaf Ahmad Shah was not being given proper medical care in Delhi's Tihar Jail.

Ruwa Shah and her father Altaf Ahmad Shah.

(Photo: Ruwa Shah/Facebook)

The daughter of imprisoned Kashmiri separatist leader Altaf Ahmad Shah on Thursday, 22 September, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that her father was unwell and needed urgent medical care.

Journalist Ruwa Shah said in her letter to PM Modi that her father had been unwell for the last two weeks, and that he had repeatedly requested authorities in Delhi's Tihar Jail to take him to the hospital.

"When he was finally taken to Deendayal Hospital Janakpuri, the doctors referred him to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for further treatment owing to his seemingly critical condition. However, he was brought back to Tihar Jail instead," she said.

'Jail Authorities Underplayed My Father's Critical Condition'

Further, she alleged that jail authorities had not mentioned several ailments that her father was suffering from in his medical report, and had underplayed his "critical" condition.

"When we inquired about his health at the NIA special court and sought his medical reports, we were stunned to know that the jail authorities had submitted prevaricated reports merely mentioning that he had diabetes and hypertension," Ruwa Shah said.

She added that the reports had made no mention of pneumonia, low haemoglobin and kidney malfunction, "thus clearly underplaying his critical condition."

She also said that the family had no information about his whereabouts over the last two days, and requested the prime minister to intervene in the matter so that her father is provided urgent medical care.

"Over the last two days, we have had no whereabouts of him. A sudden sense of panic and anxiety has taken over me and my family because of being absolutely clueless about my father," Shah said.

"I request you earnestly to intervene, allow us to know of his condition immediately, and make the requisite medical help reach him before it is too late," she added.

On Wednesday, Shah had also requested the office of Home Minister Amit Shah, apart from the PM's, to intervene in the matter and provide urgent medical care to her father.

"Urging the @PMOIndia and @HMOIndia to please allow my father access to proper medical care &not delay this any further. This is a sincere request from his family. The law can take its own course as goes his trial but medical care should not be delayed for him before it’s too late," she said in a tweet.

Altaf Ahmad Shah is the son-in-law of the late Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the founder of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. He was arrested in 2017 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a case related to alleged terror funding.