Srinagar: National Conference leader and Lok Sabha member Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi on Wednesday asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah to provide medical treatment “with dignity and fairness” to ailing separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah, who is lodged in Tihar Jail.
“I write to you with concern regarding the condition of an elderly detainee whose life now hangs in balance. Shabir Ahmad Shah is now 70 years old. By every humane and legal standard, he is entitled to medical treatment with dignity and fairness,” Mehdi said in his letter to the Union home minister.
Mehdi urged Amit Shah to ensure that “Shabir Shah is provided dignified medical care in a facility equipped for cancer treatment”.
He said this process must involve his family in all medical decisions, as permitted by law.
“The measure of a nation is how it treats its weakest. Let us not fail that test,” he said.
The Lok Sabha member from Srinagar said the doctors of the separatist leader have recommended three surgeries for serious medical conditions which include life-threatening prostate cancer.
“Despite the gravity of his condition, he remains incarcerated since 2017, without family support. During his medical visit to Safdarjung Hospital on May 1, 2025, his family alleged that he was subjected to harassment and degrading treatment by the escorting officers, and that access to his medical records has also been denied to them,” Mehdi said.
“Article 10(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a party, mandates that prisoners must be ‘treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person’,” he said.
“The Nelson Mandela Rules (Rules 24 and 26) mandate that prisoners must receive the same standard of health care as available to the general population. In Shabir Shah’s case, one can quote multiple such obligations that appear to have directly been contravened,” he added.
Mehdi said there are clear precedents in domestic law in support of fair medical treatment of undertrials.
“Zahoor Watali and Gautam Navlakha were both granted house arrest on medical and humanitarian grounds by Indian courts. These decisions acknowledged that incarceration must not come at the cost of life and dignity, particularly when there is no proven risk of escape or subversion.
“Why the same consideration can’t be extended to Mr Shah (separatist leader), whose legal status remains that of an undertrial, is a question his family has constantly raised,” he said.
