COURT REJECTS JAIN’S PLEA FOR FOOD IN LINE WITH RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

A Delhi court on Saturday denied Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister Satyendar Jain’s request for food according to his religious beliefs in Tihar jail as it said Jain was prima facie being given “preferential treatment” inside the prison in violation of rules, which had now stopped.

The observation by special judge Vikas Dhull came as the court dismissed Jain’s plea, which sought direction to Tihar officials to provide him special food items according to his religious beliefs.

The court said prison officials were giving “preferential treatment” to the AAP leader since he was a minister in the Delhi government.

Remarking that the state cannot provide any special privileges to anyone in the country, judge Dhull said the court’s reasoning of preferential treatment to Jain was fortified by the fact that the DG (Prisons) and around 26 officials of Tihar Jail No. 7 have been transferred and the superintendent of the jail has been suspended. Jain is lodged in Jail No. 7 since May 31 after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case.

“The very fact that Jain is now purchasing fruits and vegetables from the jail canteen with effect from November 3 as per the bills filed on record by the Tihar Jail Administration and has filed this application (for fasting food) after suspension/transfer of officials of Tihar Jail administration prima facie establishes on record that the incumbent Tihar Jail Officials have stopped providing preferential treatment to the applicant, which was being given earlier to the applicant, in violation of the DPR 2018,” the court said in its 11-page order.