High Court - Doctors cannot recommend prisoners’ release to attend ailing relatives (Read Order)

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that it is inappropriate for a medical officer to recommend that jail authorities permit an inmate to visit his ailing mother.

Justice Sanjay Vashisth observed: “The petitioner himself has appended his mother’s medical certificate dated 09.07.2025 issued by one Dr. Vikram Bhatia, and it is quite surprising that even the treating doctor has requested the jail authorities to allow the petitioner to be by his mother’s side during her treatment.” The Court clarified that such recommendations are beyond the scope of a doctor’s role and inappropriate when issuing a medical certificate for a patient.

The Court was hearing a plea for interim regular bail under Section 22 of the NDPS Act, seeking six weeks’ release on the ground that the petitioner’s widowed mother required urgent medical attention.

The petitioner’s counsel relied on the doctor’s note, which stated: “After 12 hours of initial treatment, patient is advised emergency surgical intervention in an advanced cardiac centre. But the patient refuses treatment in the absence of her son Gurnam Singh, who is currently lodged in Kapurthala Prison. For the sake of human life, I humbly request the higher jail authorities to allow her son to be by her side during her treatment.”

However, upon examining the State’s status report, the Court noted that the petitioner’s mother was living in a joint family with several other members capable of taking care of her.

Accordingly, the Court concluded that no valid ground existed to grant interim bail on this basis and rejected the plea.