‘Medical Negligence as State Repression’: Activists Expose Horrific Prison Conditions, Demand Immediate Release of Filmmaker Vishal Singh

New Delhi: In a scathing indictment of India's criminal justice system, the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) hosted a press conference exposing the severe deterioration of prison conditions and the targeted denial of medical care to incarcerated activists. A coalition of lawyers, activists, and former political prisoners issued an urgent demand for the immediate release of documentary filmmaker Vishal Singh, warning that his health is rapidly declining due to the deliberate apathy of prison administration.

The event featured harrowing testimonies from former prisoners, shedding light on systemic abuses behind bars. Atikur Rahman, arrested while travelling to Hathras to seek justice for Manisha Valmiki, recounted his near-death experience in Mathura Jail. He alleged that uneducated inmates routinely administer water injections under the guise of painkillers, with the full knowledge of prison doctors. Despite severe health complications, police repeatedly thwarted his referral to AIIMS. It took 42 days and direct court intervention for him to be transferred, by which time he had suffered a paralytic attack. Rahman revealed that doctors in Lucknow later told him he was lucky to survive, noting that his discharge papers had already declared him "dead."

Speakers drew stark contrasts between the treatment of influential inmates and common prisoners. Shyamveer stated that jails operate strictly on the "law of money," where gangsters run thriving extortion rackets while ordinary inmates are served expired food and brutally beaten on the soles of their feet for merely requesting the jail manual. He condemned agencies like the NIA for abducting people in civilian clothes and forcing innocent citizens into fabricated cases.

Activist Hem Mishra contextualised these abuses within a 15-year pattern of state repression, arguing that authorities are using the denial of medical care as a tool for assassination. He referenced the tragic institutional deaths of Pandu Narote and Professor G.N. Saibaba to highlight this grim reality. Mishra emphasised that Vishal Singh is being deliberately punished for his critical documentaries that exposed the plight of migrant labourers during the COVID-19 lockdown and the victims of the Delhi riots.

Eminent lawyer Prashant Bhushan delivered a sharp critique of the nation's democratic decline, asserting that India currently functions as a police state. He accused the state machinery of weaponising law enforcement agencies to crush dissent and silence human rights defenders, leaving them to languish without bail until their health completely deteriorates. Bhushan held both the executive and the judiciary accountable for this crisis, urging courts to mandate regular prison audits to protect constitutional rights.

Drawing upon the poetry of Manoranjan Byapari, N Sachin warned the gathering that "there is gunpowder in the air." He stated that the testimonies proved the judicial process itself has devolved into a form of torture and pretension. Reminding the audience of the tragic fate of institutional victims, he urged all democratic citizens to actively fight for Singh’s freedom.

The press conference concluded with a unified call for immediate intervention and a strict set of demands from CASR. The coalition primarily sought urgent bail for Vishal Singh on medical grounds and called for an absolute end to the institutional practice of denying healthcare to inmates. Furthermore, the group demanded a halt to the weaponisation of central agencies and draconian laws like the UAPA and NSA against journalists, activists, and marginalised communities. Finally, they sought severe punitive action against the police, doctors, and prison officials responsible for the medical negligence and deliberate slow murder of Vishal Singh.