Court Denies Bail to Accused Claiming to be Suffering from Schizophrenia

A Delhi Court has refused to grant interim bail to a riot accused claiming to be suffering from ‘paranoid schizophrenia’, saying that the possibility that he is pretending to be suffering from a mental disorder to come out of the jail cannot be ruled out. Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav was hearing the application filed by Mohd Salman seeking interim bail on the ground that he has been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia which requires great care and needs to be admitted to a higher medical centre for further evaluation.

The judge dismissed the application and stated, “The possibility cannot be ruled out that the applicant has been making conscious and persistent efforts to somehow come out of the jail by pretending to be suffering from mental disorder.” The court said it cannot lose sight of the fact that Salman is an accused in the three heinous cases of riots-cum-murder and the allegations against the applicant are quite serious. Notably, as per the medical report submitted by the Jail Superintendent on May 5, the accused was within normal limits, stable and being regularly sent to Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS). It is relevant to note that the applicant would not have got such attention and treatment had he not been in jail, the Judge said. During the course of proceedings, Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad argued that there is no emergency and the applicant is being well looked after by the jail authorities.