Supreme Court allows Abbas Ansari to attend father Mukhtar Ansari's 'fatiha' ceremony

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Uttar Pradesh Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Abbas Ansari to attend the 'Fatiha' ceremony of his late father Mukhtar Ansari, who recently died in the jail..The bench of Justice Surya Kant and KV Vishwanathan ordered that Abbas Ansari, who is in jail in a money laundering case, be taken to Ghazipur under police escort by 5 PM today.Ansari will participate in the rituals on Wednesday, as per the Court order, after which he is to be transferred temporarily to Ghazipur district jail.After that, the police would confirm if any further rituals remain, and if not, he will be allowed to visit his family for another two days thereafter, the Court said.However, the Court made it clear that the temporary release of Ansari cannot be construed as bail. .The Court ordered that Ansari would be brought back to Kasganj jail on April 13. His counsel gave a statement that he will not address the media during his temporary release.Meanwhile, the Court directed the State Director General of Police (DGP) to ensure Ansari's safety during his travel outside the prison.The Court also asked the Police to ensure that he carries no weapons or no such weapons are made available to him at his parent's residence during the three-day period..Earlier, Ansari had approached the top court seeking permission to attend his father's funeral. However, since the plea was not listed in time, it had become infructuous since the funeral was over by the time the case came up. He then sought permission to file an amendment to attend Fatiha on April 10.The request for amendment was allowed. Today, the top court heard the matter and allowed the plea..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal represented Ansari. He was assisted by advocates Nizam Pasha and Lzafeer Ahmad BF.Additional Advocate General Garima Prashad appeared for the State of Uttar Pradesh..Former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Mukhtar Ansari had died last month at the Rani Durgavati Medical College in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, after suffering a cardiac arrest.On March 13 this year, a special court in Varanasi had sentenced him to life imprisonment in a fake arms license case.He was convicted in several other cases including a kidnapping case, a 1999 case under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act, the 1991 murder of Awadhesh Rai (the brother of a Congress leader) and a 2003 case for intimidating a jailer by pointing a pistol at him.On March 21, he had had reportedly penned a letter to the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Mau, alleging that he was being poisoned by the jail authorities in Banda. His family has suspected a foul play in his death.