SC allows journalist Kappan to talk to his mother via video conferencing

The Supreme Court on Friday said it will allow journalist Siddique Kappan who was detained on October 5 while he was en route to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh to talk to his ailing mother via video conferencingA Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde said it will allow the plea of Kappan to have chat with his mother through video conferencing after senior advocate Kapil Sibal said an application has been filed in this connectionSibal appearing for the Kerala Union of Working Journalists KUWJ told the Bench that Kappans mother wants to have a video conferencing with the journalist who is lodged in Uttar Pradesh jailSibal said the mother of Kappan was mostly unconscious and wants to see her son whenever she regains consciousness Please allow her to talk to him through video conferencing so that she can see her son while she lives We have filed an application Court says it can be allowed subject to jail rules but jail rules do not allow video conferencing Please allow us Sibal submittedThe Bench said it will allow the request Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Uttar Pradesh asked court to leave it to himThe Bench then adjourned the matter to next week on a request by Solicitor General Tushar MehtaThe Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists KUWJ for the release of its secretary and journalist Siddique Kappan who was detained along with some others on October 5 while on their way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh where a Dalit girl was allegedly gangraped by four menEarlier the Bench had sought response on the plea from the Centre the Uttar Pradesh government and its police chiefAn FIR had been registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA in the case Kappan is lodged in the Mathura jail court was informed earlierThe KUWJ had approached the Supreme Court on a habeas corpus plea to know the whereabouts of Kappan Earlier the court refused to intervene while advising the union to move the Allahabad High Court insteadKUWJ has sought the fulfillment of Kappans basic rights such as legal help and access to familyThe police had said it has arrested four people having links with the PFI in Mathura and identified the arrested persons as Siddique from Malappuram Atiqur Rehman from Muzaffarnagar Masood Ahmed from Bahraich and Alam from RampurThe affidavit said STF has been conducting a detailed probe and have been filing progress reports before the state government from which it has been revealed that further incriminating evidence has been found against all the four accused including KappanThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever