The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted permission to jailed MLA Abbas Ansari, to attend the ‘fatiha’ (special prayers) of his father and former MLA Mukhtar Ansari, scheduled to be held on April 10.
Abbas is currently in judicial custody in connection with a criminal case. He moved the Apex Court seeking permission to participate in his father’s ‘fatiha’.
Appearing for Abbas, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal requested 4 days ad-interim for the accused, so that he could be with family in this hour of grief.
The Senior Counsel further contended that Abbas Ansari was currently 600 km away from Ghazipur, where the prayer was scheduled, adding that he would time to travel.
Representing the State of Uttar Pradesh, Additional Advocate General (AAG) Garima Prasad vehemently opposed the plea and submitted one preliminary objection to the prayer.
She said the accused was seeking interim bail in four FIRs. The FIRs were not on record, plus there was a speaking trial court order rejecting bail. Abbas was a gangster, she sad, pointing out that a severe law and order situation could occur at the funeral.
Noting that the petitioner could not attend his father’s funeral rites as he was in judicial custody, the Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice KV Viswanathan said that it saw no reason to deny the petitioner the permission to attend the Fatiha scheduled for tomorrow.
The Apex Court directed Abbas to start his travel today at the earliest and not later than 5 pm. It said after the rituals were over tomorrow, the petitioner should be shifted to a local jail in Ghazipur. The petitioner may be allowed to participate in the rituals after April 11, in judicial custody, it ordered.
The Bench further ordered that no weapons should be carried by anyone at the Fatiha or the petitioner’s residence.
Gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who was facing conviction in eight cases, passed away on March 28, after suffering cardiac arrest in Banda jail.
As per jail officials, Ansari was admitted to Banda Medical College earlier in the day after he was found lying unconscious in his barrack.
The jail officials immediately spotted him and took him to the district hospital, where he died during treatment.
Earlier on March 26, Mukhtar was found unconscious and was referred to the district hospital. He had complained of pain in the abdomen and constipation. He was discharged after treatment in 15 hours.
Advocate Randheer Singh Suman, lawyer of the former Bahujan Samaj Party MLA, had filed an application in a Barabanki court seeking proper medical examination alleging that ‘slow poisoning’ was being administered to Ansari by Banda prison staff where he was presently lodged.
Total 65 cases had been registered against Ansari out of which, 21 were pending in various courts. He was sentenced in eight cases and had remained behind bars since 2005 in different jails of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.