On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to shift Siddique Kappan, an arrested Kerala journalist, to a hospital in Delhi; after reports emerged, he was kept jailed to his bed in Mathura. Kappan had tested positive for Covid-19.
After Kappan’s treatment, the court said he could be transferred back to Mathura jail after the doctor certifies him to have recovered.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the UP government, asked the SC to direct a particular hospital, where all beds are full of Covid-19 patients, to evacuate a bed to admit Kappan for treatment by asking a patient to go out. However, the court discarded the plea.
It ordered Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to take instruction from the UP government to treat Kappan outside the state.
Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) had alleged that Kappan was chained to a bed in the hospital where he was admitted after falling in the bathroom and had later tested positive for COVID-19. The UP government, however, refused the claim.
The SC had asked the state to file a medical report of Kappan. While hearing the habeas corpus petition filed by KUWJ, seeking its instant command to transfer the arrested journalist from Mathura hospital to AIIMS, New Delhi, due to his serious health issues.
Kappan had been arrested last year in October on his way to Hathras, where a 19-year-old Dalit woman had died after being allegedly gang-raped. An FIR was registered under various provisions of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against four people having supposed links with the Popular Front of India, or PFI Uttar Pradesh Police.
