Separatist Leader Altaf Shah Dies Amid Claims of Negligence By Jail Authorities

Shah was arrested by NIA in 2018, along with several other separatist leaders, in an alleged terror-funding case.

Altaf Ahmad Shah. 

(Photo: Facebook/ Ruwa Shah). 

Kashmiri separatist leader Altaf Ahmad Shah, the son-in-law of the late Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, died from cancer at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi early on Tuesday, 11 October. His daughter Ruwa Shah confirmed the death through a tweet. “Abu (father) breathed his last at AIIMS, New Delhi. As a prisoner,” she tweeted.

Shah was arrested by the NIA in 2018, along with several other separatist leaders, in an alleged terror funding case and was lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail.

On 5 October, the Delhi High Court ordered him to be shifted to AIIMS Delhi for appropriate treatment after he was reportedly diagnosed with cancer.

Shah told the court he was receiving treatment for certain serious ailments at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML) but it was recently revealed he was suffering from the last stage of renal cancer. While claiming the RML does not have the adequate facility to treat renal cancer, he prayed he be allowed to be shifted to the AIIMS or Apollo Hospital for urgent treatment..

His daughter had also made an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking immediate medical attention for her father and bail on humanitarian grounds, according to The Indian Express. Shah is survived by his wife, a son, and two daughters. In October last year, his son lost his government job for being a "threat to the security of the State."

No Response from Anyone in Power, Says Daughter

Ruwa told The Wire on 3 October that she had received no response from any one in power. She added that while she was requesting to meet her ailing father, that is exactly what the authorities denied her.

She alleged that jail authorities’ had told the NIA court that Shah only had “diabetes and hypertension”, which she believed was misleading as it did not highlight her father’s pneumonia, low haemoglobin and kidney malfunction.

On 3 October, the Delhi High Court ordered Shah to be shifted to AIIMS for appropriate treatment. Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said that the right to have adequate and suitable treatment was the part of the fundamental rights under the Constitution.

On 4 October, Ruwa wrote on Twitter that despite the court’s order “over 27 hours ago,” Shah had not been moved from Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. He was eventually shifted to AIIMS on the night of 5 October.

(With inputs from The Wire and The Indian Express.)