New Delhi:
Jailed Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan should be shifted to AIIMS or any Delhi government hospital for treatment, the Supreme Court said today. After recovering, he can be sent back to the Mathura jail, said the bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana while hearing a petition by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists.
Siddique Kappan was arrested last year while he was on way to Hathras to cover the situation following the alleged gang rape and death of the 20-year-old woman from Scheduled Castes, which triggered outrage across the country. He has been accused of sedition and charged under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA.
Last week, political leaders from Kerala including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, sought relief for him after reports that he was being ill-treated in jail. Eleven Kerala MPs wrote to the Chief Justice of India, seeking interim relief and speedy hearing of his case.
The Editors Guild of India said it is deeply disturbed by reports of “inhuman treatment” to Siddique Kappan and demanded that he be given proper medical care.
On April 24, his wife had petitioned the Chief Justice of India, saying her husband has been tied to a cot in a hospital in Mathura and has been denied the right to go to toilet for over four days even after he was infected with coronavirus.