Supreme Court Seeks Medical Reports of Farmer Leader on Indefinite Fast

The Supreme Court has requested comprehensive medical reports of Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a farmer leader on an indefinite fast, from the Punjab government. The court aims to obtain an assessment from AIIMS. This development is part of a contempt petition concerning medical aid for Dallewal, amid ongoing farmer protests.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday demanded the Punjab government to furnish detailed comparative medical reports of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, currently on an indefinite hunger strike, to obtain an expert opinion from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh instructed the Punjab Chief Secretary to provide Dallewal's test reports to the court's Registrar within the day.

The Registrar is tasked with forwarding these reports to the AIIMS director to receive a medical board's opinion on Dallewal's condition. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Punjab, informed the bench of a medical facility located merely 10 meters from the protest site and claimed improvements in Dallewal's health parameters.

Justice Kant expressed skepticism on how Dallewal's health could improve after nearly 50 days of fasting, to which Sibal clarified that while improvement wasn't apparent, his condition was stable. The hearing is now scheduled for January 22, addressing a contempt petition against Punjab authorities for allegedly failing to comply with a December 20 order to provide medical aid to Dallewal, who has been fasting since November 26 to support farmers' demands for a legal MSP guarantee.

(With inputs from agencies.)