The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Punjab government to furnish a complete set of comparative medical reports of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on a hunger strike since November 26, for an independent evaluation by the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
The farmers, led by Dallewal, have been camping along the Delhi border since February 2024 demanding systemic agricultural reforms and legal guarantees for Minimum Support Price (MSP), the price at which the government procures key crops.
A bench comprising justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh ordered that Dallewal’s medical reports from December to January 14 be submitted to the registrar of the Supreme Court during the day.
The registrar will then forward these reports for examination by the AIIMS director, who in turn will submit his opinion by January 22.
The directive was issued after Punjab’s chief secretary informed the court that Dallewal’s platelet count and hemoglobin levels had improved compared to his December readings.
The court’s intervention comes as Dallewal’s hunger strike entered its 50th day, drawing attention to the farmers’ protest at the Punjab-Haryana border, which has lasted for nearly a year.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Punjab government, submitted that Dallewal’s health parameters were “improving,” citing a report from the medical board overseeing his condition. This prompted Justice Kant to express skepticism, questioning how a person fasting for over 49 days could show signs of improvement.
“How can it happen? On one hand, you are saying your doctors are there 24×7, and your medical team is monitoring him. How are the parameters improving?” asked the bench.