Providing Home Cooked Food In Jail Premises Is Fraught With Technical Hurdles: Delhi HC Grants Bail To Amit Katyal On Medical Grounds In ‘Land For Job’ PMLA Case
The Delhi High Court granted bail to Amit Katyal based on a medical examination of his dietary and health needs post-bariatric surgery, noting that home-cooked food in the jail premises would be “fraught with several technical hurdles.”
Amit Katyal (accused) had filed an application seeking interim bail on medical grounds under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Act, 2002 read with Section 439 of the CrPC.
While granting the bail, a Single Bench of Justice Dharmesh Sharma observed, “The level of care, attention, minute to minute monitoring and emergency response which the applicant requires, cannot be provided at the jail presently. There is no gainsaying that providing home cooked food on an every day basis for a long duration is fraught with several technical hurdles at the jail premises.”
Sr. Advocate Aman Lekhi represented the petitioner, while Advocate Zoheb Hossain (Special Counsel for ED) appeared for the respondent.
According to the Medical Status Report from the Superintendent of Jail, the accused underwent a Bariatric Sleeve Gastrectomy and was suffering from multiple chronic conditions including Coronary Artery Disease, Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, Diabetes, and Syncope. It was urged that post Bariatric Surgery, a strict dietary requirement was critical for the survival of the accused.
The bail was opposed because the accused earlier remained on interim bail on medical grounds for almost 84 days and he could not seek enlargement on bail on medical grounds all the time.
The Court noted that the dietary requirements for the health and survival of the accused were being only partially provided to him in the jail. “If the remarks/opinion of the Doctors at DDU Hospital are believed, the provision of a strict diet is very critical and essential for the adequate recovery of the petitioner since the surgery has led to removal of 75% of stomach,” the Court further noted.
The Court stated that the dietary requirements of the accused were such that they could not be provided in the jail premises. Considering the accused went through the surgery, the Court held that the accused needed to be given a proper diet to attain adequate physical, mental and psychological well-being for at least a period of 3 to 4 months.
Consequently, the Court stated, “Lastly, it would not be out of place to mention that although the complaint/chargesheet has since been filed against the applicant accused, the matter is still under investigation qua the co-accused. The petitioner was earlier also on interim bail on the medical grounds for about 84 days, and nothing is attributed against him so as claim that he interfered or influenced the course of investigation in any manner.”
Accordingly, the High Court allowed the application for interim bail on medical grounds for a period of six weeks.
Cause Title: Amit Katyal v. Directorate Of Enforcement Government Of India (Neutral Citation: 2024:DHC:4776)
Appearance:
Petitioner: Sr. Advocate Aman Lekhi; Advocates Bina Gupta, Gurpreet Singh, Bakul Jain, Ritviz Rishabh, Jatin Sethi and Akansha Saini
Respondents: SPP Manish Jain and Vivek Gurnani; Advocates Zoheb Hossain (Special Counsel for ED), Advocates Abhipriya, Samarvir Singh, Radhika Puri and Dipanshu Gaba