Hathras UAPA: 'Cognizance taken without sanctions'

New Delhi: Family members of UAPA accused Atikur Rehman, Campus Front of India member, on Friday appealed to the judiciary to consider their petition seeking advanced medical care for him as they alleged that jail authorities in Mathura had denied him the proper treatment for his condition for the last 11 months, thereby violating even jail manual rules.

Atikur is one of the eight accused charged under UAPA and Sedition in connection with the events that followed the Hathras rape and murder case last year. Suffering from a heart condition known as aortic regurgitation, Atikur was scheduled for a specialised surgery just a month before he was arrested in October last year.

However, in a set of startling allegations, his lawyer, Advocate Madhuvandutt Chathurvedi, who also represents six other accused, said that the chargesheet filed by the UP Police STF in the case against the eight accused was taken cognizance of by a Mathura court, without sanctions from the competent authority - neither for the charges under UAPA nor for the one of Sedition.

The lawyer on Friday said that the police had filed the 5,000-page chargesheet on April 3 last year, which was taken cognizance of by a local court the same day.

Significantly, the court order which records the cognizance of the chargesheet does not mention the need for sanction or having perused the sanctions at all, as per the documents seen by Millennium Post.

Chathurvedi said that the charges under UAPA and the Sedition charge (Section 153A of IPC) need sanction for filing charges but the police did not obtain this at the time of filing it and nor was it obtained by the time of taking cognizance.

Usually, in cases where the sanction is pending, courts take cognizance of all other charges. In this case, the Mathura court has taken cognizance of the charges without recording whether the sanction was obtained.

Moreover, Chathurvedi said that the police had received the sanction under Section 196 CrPC with respect to the Sedition charge only on April 7. When asked when the police received sanction for charges under UAPA, Chathurvedi said, "They don't have it even now."

Speaking at a press conference at the Press Club of India here, Atikur's wife, Sanjida said that his condition is very bad as per the short conversations she is allowed with him once a week. She said, "This disease is life-threatening if not treated appropriately and he is constantly talking of being in pain." She added that he has chronic stomach aches, diarrhea and bouts of chest pains.

Atikur's lawyer revealed that they had filed petitions to get him medical treatment four times now and all had been denied. He told Millennium Post, "One medical bail plea we filed, then we filed three pleas for better medical care, specifically at AIIMS - all were rejected." Atikur needs what is known as a Bentall Procedure for his condition. Chathurvedi added that the Allahabad High Court is currently hearing as many as 13 petitions with regards to the eight accused in this case, one of which is also a challenge to the order taking cognizance of the charges against them.