Journalist Siddique Kappan's wife Raihanth Kappan wrote a letter to newly appointed Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana on Sunday requesting him to immediately pass a release order for her husband as his life is in "extreme danger" in Mathura jail.
"At a time when the country is gasping for breath, many migrating to the other world of equality, this is an attempt to give interim breath to a journalist, on behalf of the wife Raihanth Kappan, to release her husband, Kappan, who was arrested at Mathura on October 5, 2020, while on the way to Hathras to discharge his duty as a journalist," Raihanth wrote in her letter.
She informed the CJI that Siddique fell in the jail bathroom with serious injuries on April 20, 2021. He later tested positive for COVID-19 on the same day and was then shifted to KM Medical college.
"Presently Kappan is chained like an mal in a cot of the medical college hospital, Mathura, without mobility, and he neither could take food, nor could go to the toilet for the last three-four days, and is very critical. If immediate corrective steps are not taken, it will result in his untimely death," she stated.
"Importantly, media is the breath of democracy, and it is an attempt for giving breath to a media person, who is in jail for more than six months and the Habeas Corpus petition is also pending since October 6, 2020," she added.
Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), had on April 22, also filed a habeas corpus writ petition before the Supreme Court seeking its immediate direction to transfer Kappan from Mathura hospital to AIIMS, New Delhi, due to his ill-health.
Kappan was arrested at a toll plaza near Hathras, (while on his way to Hathras) in Uttar Pradesh in October last year, in connection with his reporting assignment to cover the brutal gangrape and murder of the 19-year-old girl.
An FIR had been registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the case against the accused, Kappan, by the Uttar Pradesh police. It was later claimed by the Uttar Pradesh Police that Kappan has alleged links with the Popular Front of India (PFI).
( With inputs from ANI )
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