Court directs Tihar authorities to provide treatment at AIIMS to Bhim army chief

A Delhi court directed Tihar jail authorities on Thursday to provide treatment for polycythemia to Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, arrested in connection with violence during anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest in old Delhi's Daryaganj area.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arul Verma passed the directions on Azad's plea for proper treatment of polycythemia at AIIMS where he had been undergoing the treatment.

In a brief hearing on Wednesday, the jail authorities had sought time to file Azad's medical report in response to his application seeking treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the national capital, said advocate Mehmood Pracha, who represented Azad.

The application claimed that Azad was suffering from polycythemia, a disorder of blood thickness, and "requires continuous checkup from the doctors concerned from AIIMS, who are supervising his treatment for a long time".

If the treatment was not provided urgently to Azad, it might lead to cardiac arrest, the application stated.

The Bhim Army chief was sent to judicial custody on December 21 by a Delhi court.

Azad's outfit had organised a march from Jama Masjid to Jantar Mantar against the amended Citizenship Act on December 20, without police permission.