Arvind Kejriwal arrest: Why mangoes and insulin became contentious issues

This accusation prompted the court to call for Kejrwal’s diet chart maintained by the Tihar authorities before passing the order

Ultimately, AAP, on April 23, took to X to say that the Tihar jail authorities had given Kejriwal a shot of insulin for the first time since his arrest. Moneycontrol explains what the controversy is about and the arguments of both the sides .

Genesis of the dispute

Kejrwial was arrested by the ED on March 21 for being non-cooperative when they questioned him on his alleged role in the Delhi liquor scam. Kejriwal had skipped nine summons over six months. On April 1, the Rouse Avenue court remanded the CM to judicial custody after the ED told the court that it did not need his custody for the time being.

On April 1, Kejriwal had moved an application seeking permission to consume home-cooked food and diet prescribed by his own doctor -- Dr. Ravichandra, WHEALTH, Centre for Excellence in Diabetes & Weight Management. The court allowed this plea as Kejriwal was diabetic and was required to follow a strict diet .

Arguments over mangoes and insulin

On April 19, Kejriwal filed an application in the court, asking it to allow the jail authorities to administer him insulin and permit him to consult Dr. Ravichandra Rao through videoconferencing for 15 minutes every day .

The application also asked the court to permit his wife Sunita Kejriwal to be present with him during the consultation. The ED vehemently objected to this and argued that Kejriwal was intentionally consuming mangoes, sweets, and sugar in his tea to elevate his blood sugar levels. This strategy was an attempt to use medical grounds for securing bail, the law enforcement agency argued.

The ED further argued that Kejriwal should be treated like other inmates and no special facility should be granted to him. According to the ED, there is no ground to permit Kejriwal to consult a private doctor in this case as Tihar has adequate facilities to treat him.

The Tihar jail authorities contended that Kejriwal’s medical reports had disclosed that he was not on insulin for the last few months ,as per the advice of a ‘Telangana doctor’.

According to the jail authorities, Kejriwal is being regularly examined by them and his application shows selective readings deliberately. They also contended that Kejriwal’s current blood sugar reading does not warrant daily insulin dose.

Kejriwal’s response

Kejriwal’s lawyers argued that his blood sugar levels, though not alarming, have increased due to non-administration of insulin.

It was argued that the ED has made a huge issue about small portions of mangoes which were sent to Kejriwal -- that too, only thrice out of 48 meals sent to him from home. According to his lawyers, mangoes, if consumed in such a small quantity, do not spike blood sugar levels.

It was also contended that the Glycaemic Index of mango is 51, which is even lower than white rice and brown rice. Furthermore, they argued that Kejriwal takes ‘sugar-free’ tea. Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta contended whether Kejriwal was expected to consume ‘mushrooms’ instead of mangoes.

Court’s order

The court, while junking the plea, observed that “illustratively stated, the diet chart of the applicant does not prescribe vegetables like potatoes and arbi, and there is also no specific mention of mangoes in the said diet chart.”

To senior advocate Gupta's doubt as to whether Kejriwal should eat ‘mushrooms’ instead of mangoes, the court said mushrooms are prescribed in Kejrwial’s diet chart.

“This court is unable to fathom as to why Kejriwal’s family has been sending articles against his medically prescribed diet, i.e. mangoes, sweets, aloo puri etc,” the order noted. The court also took note of the fact that Kejriwal admitted to eating items such as aloo puri and sugar-free sweets.

The court pulled up the jail authorities for allowing Kejriwal to take these items despite knowing that it was not a part of his dietary chart.

According to the order, the court was ‘startled’ to know that Kejriwal had sent the report prepared by the senior medical officer of Tihar to his personal doctor (WHEALTH) and obtained a glaringly different result. Noting that private treatment can be given only if the jail authorities are unable to give treatment, the court said: “It is apparent that the jail authorities have a well-developed infrastructure for providing requisite healthcare to the inmates. Reportedly, other jail inmates with similar medical conditions are being provided requisite medical treatment by the jail authorities.”

Further, the court took note of the submission of the jail authorities that the decision to take insulin cannot be taken by Kejriwal on his own and it needs to also be considered by the jail doctors .

The court observed that Kejriwal suffers from hyperglycaemia and insulin cannot be easily administered to patients suffering from this condition, and his doctor’s report itself states that insulin ‘maybe’ administered, if his sugar level is uncontrollable.

The court thus rejected his request and directed the medical board of AIIMS to also submit its report to the court at the earliest, specifying whether there is any requirement of insulin at this juncture. The medical board, which is to be constituted by AIIMS, will consist of a senior endocrinologist/ diabetologist, as per the request sent by the DG (prisons) on April 20.

The court, while still permitting home-cooked food, directed the Tihar jail authorities to monitor the same properly. “The jail administration neither brought the said non-­compliance of the order to the notice of this court, nor took any steps to ensure that the applicant does not consume those food items which were not prescribed by his doctor,” the jail authorities said.