Ill convict refuses surgery, HC directs medical board to find alternative treatment

Kolkata: With a woman prisoner suffering from serious health condition and refusing to undergo a surgery, Calcutta High Court has directed the medical board concerned to submit further report with regard to alternative courses of treatment of the convict without surgical intervention and its impact on the prognosis of her ailment.

The Division Bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Gaurang Kanth was submitted an initial report by the medical board where it was stated that the prisoner has refused to undergo a needed surgery.

It was observed that such refusal could be due to unfounded fear or lack of adequate information impacting her decision-making process.

The counsel who had filed an appeal on behalf of the woman convict

through the High Court Legal Services Committee (HCLSC), was requested to take up the issue of surgical intervention with her family members and if necessary, arrange for proper counseling through the HCLSC so that the convict is in a position to take an informed decision.

Earlier, the Division Bench had directed the superintendent of Alipore Women’s Correctional Home to shift the prisoner to a teaching hospital in Kolkata where a medical board is to be constituted for her health examination to determine whether she can be treated as a ‘terminally ill’ person.

The Bench had received a letter from the Assistant Legal Aid Defence Counsel, South 24-Parganas at Alipore pertaining to the serious health condition of a convict

Shobha Biswas who is presently serving her sentence in Alipore Women’s Correctional Home.