On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and state police seeking a response to a petition filed by the Kerala Workers’ Union of Journalists, challenging the arrest of Siddique Kappan. The Kerala journalist was arrested by Mathura police last month while on his way to cover the Hathras gang rape incident.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde published the matter for hearing on Friday.
Lead attorney Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the Union, requested provisional bail for the journalist as he has been in jail since 4 October.
The court said it would like to hear from the state first and indicated that it can order that the matter be sent to the Allahabad high court.
“We are trying to discourage the requests of Article 32 (power of the Supreme Court to provide reparation for violation of fundamental rights). There are a number of Article 32 petitions, ”said the court, which also includes judges AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
Sibal pointed out that this was the case of the detained journalist and that similar requests have been received in the past.
The bank added: “We are not commenting on the merits of the case. We are aware of similar orders in the past and of the vast powers that this Court possesses under Article 32. We want to discourage this trend ”.
Kappan is charged under the Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for his alleged links to the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) group.
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