AGARTALA: The Tripura High Court has directed the state government to pay Rs 10 lakh to the next kin of a jail inmate who died due to medical negligence on the part of correctional home at Bishalgarh in Sepahijala district.
The deceased jail inmate identified as Chandan Dey died of Japanese Encephalitis (JE).
Dey was awarded imprisonment for rash driving but before he could complete the imprisonment tenure of 1.5 years, he fell seriously ill.
He was admitted to GBP hospital in June 2017 and the doctors after preliminary treatment referred him to SSKM hospital in Kolkata but the jail authorities did not shift him for advance treatment leading to his untimely death.
Dey’s wife moved the Court seeking compensation for the unfortunate demise of her husband due to negligence on the part of jail authorities.
In 2020, the High Court single bench headed by Justice S Talapatra gave a verdict in favour of Dey’s wife.
However, the jail authorities challenged the judgment in the High Court’s division bench but the division bench comprising Justice Arindam Lodh and Justice SG Chattopadhyay upheld the single bench’s verdict.
Apart from that, the Court also asked the prison directorate to establish a medical unit within the premises of the central correctional home and arrange for special funds that could be used in treatment of ailing inmates.