'Take Kappan back to hospital', Siddique Kappans' wife sends contempt notice to UP govt

The wife of arrested journalist Siddique Kappan, Raihanath Siddique has sent a notice of contempt to the Uttar Pradesh Government for submitting wrong/misleading information before the SC regarding his medical status, reports LiveLaw.

The notice of contempt sent through Advocate Wills Mathews to the UP Government alleges non-compliance with Supreme Court's order dated April 28 which stipulated that recovery of Mr.Sidhique Kappan was a mandatory requirement for discharging him and shifting him to Mathura jail.

The notice states that according to the affidavit submitted by UP Government before the Supreme Court, Kappan was COVID Negative, however, it claims that in a letter received on May 8 by MP E T Mohammed Basheer from AIIMS, it was stated that Kappan was COVID Positive.

According to the report, the notice demands Uttar Pradesh Government to take Kappan back to AIIMS Hospital /or any other reputed Hospital in Delhi within 6 hours, in an ambulance, with Doctor.

Earlier, disregarding Supreme Court's order, Kappan was discharged from AIIMS on May 7 even when he allegedly had not recovered from COVID.

On April 28, Supreme Court had directed that Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan be shifted from Mathura Jail in Uttar Pradesh to a government hospital in Delhi for medical treatment.

Consequently he was shifted from Mathura Jail to AIIMS, New Delhi in an ambulance and was under treatment since April 30. However none of the family members including his wife Raihana or the lawyer of Kappan was informed about the progress of his medical condition/treatment till May 7, 2021.

On May 1, 2021 the wife of Siddique Kappan along with her son came to Delhi, all the way from Kerala, yet she was not allowed to meet Kappan, due to UP Government's non-response to the grievances of the accused and his family members.

On May 4, a representation was given to Senior Superintendent of District Jail, Mathura asking for his permission to allow Kappan's wife to meet him. However, the permission was refused stating that there was no provision in the UP-Jail Manual for the same.

According to the notice sent to UP government, it alleges that the Government of Uttar Pradesh took Kappan, at midnight, depriving him of sleep back to jail and is kept like an animal in shabby surroundings as disclosed by Kappan to his wife over the phone.

Earlier, reacting to Madhyamam, Raihana had informed that she got a call from Kappan at around 11.30 AM on Friday, stating that he was being taken to Mathura jail at around 2.30 AM, after midnight and was accommodated in a shabby place, not given food, and he didn't know whether he was COVID positive or negative.

Siddique Kappan, was arrested along with three persons by UP Police while they were going to Hathras on October 3, and was subsequently booked under the UAPA alleging that he and his co-passengers were trying to incite communal riots and disrupt social harmony in the wake of the Hathras gangrape-murder case.

The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court last year seeking Kappan's release on the ground that he was illegally arrested. Later, Kappan's wife also filed a petition in this regard based on which the Supreme Court ordered his being bought to a Delhi hospital.