After 16 years of the death of Singapore-based chairman of Britannia Group, Rajan Pillai, popularly known as “biscuit king,” in high-security Tihar jail, the Delhi high court on Friday held the state liable for lapses in providing proper medical care to him and awarded a compensation of `10 lakhs to his wife.
Justice S. Muralidhar said, “Pillai’s death occurred while he was in judicial custody. There is both a constitutional and a legal obligation of the state, in terms of Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution, to protect the life and liberty of every inmate of a prison.”
Issuing directions for improvement of facilities inside the Tihar jail, Justice Muralidhar said, “The Delhi government will, within a period of four weeks, pay a token compensation of `10 lakhs to petitioners (Nina Rajan Pillai and her two sons) together with costs of litigation quantified at `20,000.”
The court allowed Nina to use “the amount in any charitable cause of their choice in keeping with the statement made by them (family),” during hearing of the case. The court also asked Tihar administration to procure a well-equipped ambulance for prisoners to ferry them to the nearest hospital for treatment.
The Singapore-based Indian industrialist, who was suffering from various ailments, including alcoholic liver cirrhosis, had died at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in 1995 due to lack of proper medical care.