Presence of elder family member crucial in medical emergencies: J&K High Court grants bail to NDPS accused

The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh recently granted bail to a man booked in a drugs case so that he may be present while his minor daughter undergoes surgery, observing that the Court should be mindful of the need for an elder family member to be present during such medical emergencies [Aasif Amin Thoker V/s Union Territory of J&K]..Justice Rahul Bharti emphasized that in situations involving the health and hospitalization of minor children, courts cannot lose sight of a person's civil and social responsibilities."This Court cannot (lose sight) of the fact that presence of an elder male member of a family for attending upon an ailing daughter requiring surgery/ hospitalization is a call of the day, keeping in view the nature of the Civil and Social (society) of which all of us are part of," the Court said in its April 25 ruling..The petitioner before the Court had been arrested in a case registered under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) in 2021.He had earlier been granted short-term bail by the Principal Sessions Judge, Kulgam to attend to his ailing daughter. However, this bail period expired before the actual date of surgery. His request for an extension was rejected by the trial Court, prompting him to move the High Court.The High Court acknowledged that the trial court may have had some factual basis to dismiss the petitioner's request for extending the bail period. However, the High Court added that humanitarian considerations should have prevailed in this case, considering that it was related to the urgent medical needs of a child."Given the fact that for her minor daughter the petitioner is the only guardian who is supposed to attend her ailment, as such, the Principal Sessions Judge, Kulgam ought to have continued with the judicial trust in the petitioner ... without going into bonafide of the petitioner in terms of the previous prescriptions which were not procured by the petitioner himself but were during the time when the petitioner himself was inside jail and his wife was perhaps attending the petitioner’s sick daughter. May be the petitioner’s counsel who had moved the petition for seeking short term bail from the Court of Principal Sessions Judge, Kulgam was not able to stitch facts properly for which the petitioner should not have been made to suffer prejudice of having denial of extension of bail," the High Court said. It proceeded to grant the petitioner 20 days of short-term bail so that he can be present for his daughter's surgery and attend to her health needs thereafter. .Advocate Usman Gani appeared for the petitioner..[Read Order]