Akhil Gogoi's Health: 'National Human Rights Commission' Urged to Intervene, Arrange Treatment at AIIMS

Imphal, March 5, 2020:

Now, the demand for a proper medical check-up of ailing Assam peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, who was arrested in Jorhat last December amid the protests against the BJP regime's enactment of the Citizenship law, has reached the National Human Rights Commission.

Writing to Justice (retd.) H.L. Dattu, who is the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Babloo Loitongbam (Human Rights Alert, Manipur) and Henri Tiphagne (Human Rights Defenders Alert, India)  stated that Human Rights Defender (HRD) Akhil Gogoi, who has been jailed in Guwahati's Central Jail, must be accorded proper treatment, preferably at the AIIMS in New Delhi.

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In the petition, concerns pertaining to his "deteriorating health conditions" have been raised, and the Comission has been asked to immediately to look into the matter.

Informing that the peasant leader has long been suffering from kidney and back related problems and was under constant medical supervision at the time of his arrest, the petitioners also said that he was taken for a check up at the GMCH hospital in Guwahati on February 29, almost 75 days after his arrest. Following this, he was unable to meet his legal counsel (on March 2) and his wife (on March 3), and his co-accused and fellow Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) members have informed that he is confined to bed and is unable to get up.

The petitioners have argued that since the GMCH is directly under the control of the Assam, the peasant leader must be examined by a body of doctors of AIIMS in Delhi, and have urged the Commission to provide for an examination for Akhil at the AIIMS or some other institute.

The petitioners have also urged the commission to consider directing the Director General of Investigation (DGI) of the commission to collect all medical reports "urgently" and that all medical attention is provided to him.

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