Rights of prisoners and health patients form Kohima’s legal service discourse

Dimapur, August 9: The Kohima District Legal Services Authority organized a seminar on legal services for patients at the Kripa Foundation in Kohima town. Legal aid counsel V Ashu Theyo, panel lawyer Sunjib Rana and lawyer Neiteo Koza were the resource persons during the event.
V Ashu Theyo, spoke about the Narcotic Drugs Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act and the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act, the organizers stated in a press release that was issued to the media on Tuesday. With the enactment of the NLTP Act in Nagaland, buying, selling or consuming liquor is totally prohibited in the state; the breach of the provisions of the Act will invite heavy penalty, Theyo said.
Also, as per the NDPS Act, any person consuming or selling narcotics such as ‘ganja,’ brown sugar, opium and other prohibited drugs are liable for maximum punishment of 20 years, he said. The legal counsel said to have undertaken a ‘case study’ on the cause of addiction for patients too. He urged the patients to ‘adopt healthy habits in order to fight the harmful habits.’Panel lawyer Sunjib Rana highlighted the rights of prisoners. He said that anyone who had been arrested for any offence had the right to be represented by a lawyer. The arrested person has the right to remain silent after his arrest; using third-degree punishment against the arrested person is prohibited, he said.
Further, Rana said, the arrested person must be produced before a judicial magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest. Only then, the police can seek remand of the arrested person, he said.
Speaking on the topic ‘Laws of Consent, Confidentiality and Discrimination,’ panel lawyer Neiteo Koza said every person posses the right to determine what should be done to his body ‘based on autonomy and bodily integrity.’ She said that consent was defined under the Contract Act as when two or more persons agree upon the same thing and the same issue. All kinds of medical treatment and surgical procedure involve interference with the body therefore, she said, consent was required. Consent can be given by any adult. In the case of minors and mentally-challenged, parents or guardians can give or refuse consent before any medical treatment or surgical procedure is conducted, she said.
Koza also mentioned that as per the Medical Council of India Act, doctors are mandated to keep confidentiality of the personal health records of their patients at all cost unless larger public interest arise–when concealing facts would bring harm to the community at large.
Further, she said that although there are no comprehensive laws for HIV/AIDS-infected persons, a good number of landmark judgments have been passed by the Supreme Court and the high courts. For instance, the courts have prohibited discrimination against persons affected by HIV/AIDS, she said.
Likewise, a patient suffering from any ailment has the right to receive treatment, she said. No person can be denied employment in the public sector just because he was suffering from HIV/AIDS. Persons living with HIV/AIDS can use a pseudonym before the courts if they do not want to disclose their identity, she added.