Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan shifted to AIIMS, Delhi from Mathura prison

AGRA: Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan was on Friday taken to AIIMS, Delhi from UP’s Mathura jail, two days after the Supreme Court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to transfer him to a better health facility in the national capital.

Senior superintendent of Mathura jail, Shailendra Maitrey, said, “Kappan was taken to AIIMS in an ambulance on Friday morning. A jail doctor and deputy jailor were also with him.”

On Wednesday, the apex court had directed the state government to shift Kappan to Delhi for treatment after his medical reports revealed that he had multiple health issues like diabetes, heart ailment, blood pressure, and bodily injury.

Kappan had tested positive for Covid-19 and was admitted to a Mathura hospital for over a week. He was later taken back to Mathura prison after he tested negative.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) has demanded that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta withdraw his “baseless statement” made about the union in the Supreme Court and publicly apologize for it.

During the hearing of Kappan’s case, Mehta had stated in the court that “this is a purported association of journalists, not even a well-known one. When this person was arrested, he was carrying a card of a newspaper called ‘Tejas’ which hasn’t functioned for years.”

On October 5 last year, Kappan was arrested when he was going to Hathras village from Delhi to report the alleged gang rape and murder of the Dalit girl. Three others including a driver were also arrested with him. Later they were accused of trying to foment disturbance and booked under stringent charges of sedition and UAPA.