Updated: November 20, 2020 2:50:29 pm
Siddique Kappan (wearing cap), secretary of the Kerala Workers’ Union of Journalists, and three other people who were detained with him were brought before a court in Mathura. (PTI)
The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Kerala-based journalist Siddique Kappan to meet with his lawyers sign in vaqalatnama to facilitate his release on bail even though the court objected to the way the media reported the case.
The SC bench, headed by CJI SA Bobde and comprised of judges AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, was listening the petition for habeas corpus filed by the Kerala Union of Worker Journalists (KUWJ) against the custody of Kappan.
The court allowed lead attorney Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for KUWJ, to meet with his client after Attorney General Tushar Mehta told the court that there was no objection to Kappan meeting with his attorneys. “There were no objections and there are no objections,” SG Mehta said while denying the allegations that Kappan’s lawyers were unable to meet with him. The court has postponed the matter until next week.
Explained | What have been the recent observations of the Supreme Court on Article 32?
“Ready after a week. Meanwhile, in jail you can obtain the signature of the accused to go to court, “said the judge.
In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the UP government claimed that a “completely false narrative” was being made that Kappan was not allowed to speak to relatives or lawyers, as during judicial custody, he had interacted with your family members three times by phone at your written request.
“It is pertinent to note that the defendant Siddique Kappan has never requested to meet with any family member or lawyer, nor has he submitted a request of this type to the competent judicial or prison authorities to date,” he said.
Kappan, who works with the Malayalam Azhimukham news website, and three others were arrested on October 5 in Mathura while on her way to Hathras, where a 19-year-old Dalit woman had allegedly been assaulted and attacked with ganglia, leading to her death in a Delhi hospital.
Uttar Pradesh police have alleged that Kappan and two members of the Campus Front of India (CFI) were part of a “conspiracy” to inflame religious enmity over the violation of Hathras, and charged them with various charges, including under strict UAPA and sedition.
Over the course of the short hearing, CJI Bobde said that media reports that the court had denied relief to Kappan were “unfair.” “There were very unfair reports about our previous order. I am concerned about inaccurate reports. Reports said that the journalist was denied relief, ”said the SC. The bank asked Sibal to review the response submitted by Uttar Pradesh and submit the reply. “You have the right to post a bond and read the response and then we will listen to you fully,” the bank said.
At the last hearing, the CV requested responses from the Center and the Uttar Pradesh government on the petition for Kappan’s release while noting that he was “trying to dissuade” people from presenting petitions under article 32 of the Constitution—Which grants people the right to go to the higher court in search of the observance of fundamental rights.
In the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the UP government said that Kappan would go to Hathras under the “garb of journalism” with a “very determined design” to create a caste division and disrupt the situation of the law and the order.
“Kappan was the Secretary of the Office of the Popular Front of India (PFI) who is wearing a journalist cover showing the identity card of a Kerala-based newspaper called ‘Tejas’ that was closed in 2018,” the statement said UP jury, according to Live Law. “Mobile phones, laptops, pamphlets with the headlines of ‘Justice for the victim of Hathras’, etc., were duly seized, and the information of said detention was duly transmitted to the relatives,” he added.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
.
