Court allows Arvind Kejriwal's wife access to his medical records, permits her to seek doctors' advice

A Delhi court on Saturday allowed jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita access to his medical records and also permitted her to independently consult and seek advice from the medical board or doctors on his behalf. The court, however, rejected Kejriwal's application seeking directions to prison authorities allowing Sunita Kejriwal to be his attendant during consultations with doctors.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja said Kejriwal had not been admitted to a hospital and according to Delhi Prison Rules, permission was granted to a family member as an attendant with an undertrial prisoner by the jail superintendent in consultation with the medical officer in-charge, only when the prisoner is admitted in hospital.

"This court sees no reason to carve out an exception for the applicant (Kejriwal) by going against the prison rules, more particularly in view of the submission of the jail authorities that several other inmates are also undergoing treatment for the same ailment as the applicant and who have not been permitted to have an attendant," the court said.

Regarding granting Kejriwal's wife access to his medical records, the court said the prison authorities did not have any objection and during the proceedings, the chief minister agreed that his medical records were being "duly shared" by the authorities concerned.

Also, Kejriwal's family members have been providing home-cooked food to him in accordance with the diet prescribed by the medical board of the AIIMS, the court said.

"Accordingly, insofar as the prayer of the applicant regarding providing the medical records of his medical meetings/consultations with the doctors to his wife is concerned, the same is allowed and the jail authorities are directed to provide the medical records of the applicant," it said.

Regarding Kejriwal's request to permit his wife to independently consult and seek advice from the medical board or doctors, the court said it was pointed out by Kejriwal and his advocate that this was necessary to ensure that his prescribed diet was prepared properly.

"It is submitted that the wife of the applicant may also have certain queries regarding the method of preparing the diet as per the recommendation of the medical board, for which she may need to consult the doctors/medical board of AIIMS," the court said.

"The said submissions appear to be justified and in this regard, it is directed that in case of such a query, the wife of the applicant may independently approach the concerned medical board/doctors, who may have a meeting/consultation with her to discuss the method of preparation of medically prescribed diet of the applicant, if so permitted under the hospital rules," it added.