PRAYAGRAJ: The Uttar Pradesh government has agreed to permit two alleged Popular Front of India (PFI) members and their taxi driver to meet lawyers in jail in accordance with the jail manual. The three persons were arrested by the UP Police while they were going to Hathras to meet family of a deceased gang-rape victim.
Additional advocate general Manish Goyal, representing the UP government, made this submission before the court after counsel for the petitioners stated before the court that superintendent of Mathura jail is not allowing the counsel for the petitioners to meet them in jail.
Hearing a habeas corpus writ petition filed by Atiq-ur- Rehman of Muzaffarnagar, Masood of Bahraich and Alam of Rampur, a division bench comprising Justice Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Justice Shamim Ahmed fixed February 4 as the next date of hearing.
Earlier, on January 5 the court had directed the Central and state governments to file counter-affidavit in a petition filed by the petitioners.
The three men, along with Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan, were arrested by Mathura police on October 5 last year. An FIR was registered under Section 17 & 18 of UAPA, Section 153-A, 295-A and 124A of Indian Penal Code and section 65, 72 and 75 of IT Act. It was alleged in the FIR that they were going to Hathras with the intentions to take undue benefit of Hathras incident and to disturb law and order situation and to fuel caste-based riots in the state.
Following their arrest, the police had alleged that the three had links to PFI student’s wing Campus Front of India (CFI), said police.
Seeking release from jail, the petition has challenged the order of the magistrate by which the three were sent to judicial remand calling it unlawful.
The petition said that the Mathura chief judicial magistrate did not have the jurisdiction to try the matter or remand the petitioners to custody. It added that Rehman and Masood were going to meet the bereaved family while Alam was ferrying them to the destination.
The court passed this order on January 28.