Supreme Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to shift the arrested journalist Siddique Kappan, to RML or AIIMS or wherever his treatment can be done.
Court has also noted that after Kappan's treatment, he be transferred back to Mathura jail after the doctor certifies him to have recovered.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the UP government, during the hearing, asked the Supreme Court that it has to direct a particular hospital, where all beds are full with Covid patients, to vacate a bed by asking a patient to go out to admit Kappan for treatment. The apex court, however, disposed of the plea.
Earlier in the day when the court asked the UP government to inform if the arrested journalist could be shifted to Delhi for better treatment, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the Supreme Court's suggestion, saying thousands of inmates with similar illnesses are there and there are thousands of law-abiding citizens getting treatment in Mathura hospital.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file a medical report of Kappan while hearing the habeas corpus petition filed by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) seeking its immediate direction to transfer the jailed journalist from Mathura hospital to AIIMS, New Delhi, due to his serious ill-health.
The Uttar Pradesh government has refused the claim of Kappan's wife that the accused has been chained to a cot.
Kappan was arrested at a toll plaza near Hathras in October last year, while on his way to cover the gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old girl. An FIR had been registered under the UAPA in the case against Kappan by the Uttar Pradesh Police.
