Food For Thought: Mumbai Special PMLA Court Issues Notice To Arthur Road Jail Over Denial Of Jain Food To Accused In Custody

Mumbai: The special PMLA court has issued a notice to the superintendent of Arthur Road prison for not providing Jain food to one of the inmates who is a follower of Jainism, even after the order of the court. The prison authorities have been asked to respond by Friday.

Ritesh Shah, an accused in the Malegaon money laundering case, had on May 9 approached the special court seeking direction to the prison authorities to provide him jain food in prison.

He had claimed that “he had been following Jainism throughout his life. However, food being served in the jail is not as per the religious dietary practices. Hence this has affected Shah’s health as he has lost a considerable amount of weight.”

The special court had on May 14, allowed the plea observing that, “Considering the fact that the accused is follower of Jainism, therefore, he is entitled to get a diet accepted by Jain Religion. Accordingly, the Superintendent of Arthur Road Jail is directed to provide Jain Food to the accused while he is in custody.”

However, in spite of the order, Shah’s lawyer Viral Babar on Tuesday claimed that even after the order, till date Shah has not been provided Jain food in accordance with his religious dietary requirements. As a result, the accused has been surviving solely on chapatis for more than a month, which has caused significant deterioration in his health.

“This non-compliance amounts to a violation of the Hon’ble Court’s order and infringes upon the fundamental rights of the accused under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” Babar contended before the court asking the court to issue a show cause notice to the prison authorities.

Shah has been lodged in the prison since March 29 for his alleged role in the Malegaon money laundering case. It is alleged by the Enforcement Directorate that Shah was a part of a larger syndicate indulging in money laundering. It revealed that within a span of a few years, the accused along with his accomplices opened 200 bank accounts illegally and withdrew crores of rupees.

“The accused was working as entry provider for giving cash in return of bank transfers for commission and was engaged in collection of cash in the name of donation to political parties to claim exemption of tax and return the said amount to the donors after deducting a certain percentage of commission," the agency had submitted before the court.

Before being arrested by ED in Malegaon money laundering case, Shah was also arrested in connection with a huge GST fraud involving 20 fake firms and monetary transactions to the tune of Rs 576.86 crores resulting in tax evasion of Rs 108.28 crores. Shah was arrested by the Directorate General of GST, Ahmedabad on December 22.

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