Supreme Court Allows Abbas Ansari To Virtually Attend Religious Ceremony Of His Late Father Mukhtar Ansari

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (May 07) allowed MLA Abbas Ansari to virtually attend the religious ceremony to mark the 40th day of the death of his late father Mukhtar Ansari.

After observing that the ceremony is set for today, the Bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan asked the State of Uttar Pradesh to allow Ansari to participate electronically, either from jail or from a secure location outside of jail.

It may be recalled that Abbas Ansari is currently in jail over an arms license case. In November last year, he was denied bail by the Allahabad High Court, noting that huge quantities of arms and ammunition were recovered from his premises in New Delhi. The High Court further cited the risk of Ansari influencing witnesses and tampering with evidence.

Following his father's death due to cardiac arrest, he had written to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mau, Uttar Pradesh claiming that he was being poisoned by the Banda jail officials.

Earlier, the court also permitted Abbas Ansari to attend a 'Fatiha' ceremony of his father Mukhtar Ansari.

Today, the court asked the Additional Advocate General Ms. Garima Prashad appearing for the State of UP to treat the matter with compassion citing that the person has lost his father.

"This is not adversarial litigation. Treat this matter with some compassion. This man has lost his father. Now he himself is in conflict with the law. But this is not adversarial litigation.”, the court told AAG.

Meanwhile, the court also asked Advocate Mr. Nizam Pasha representing Abbas to return on the following hearing date with a timely request to attend any other planned ritual/ceremony.

After the court was informed by Mr. Pasha that Ansari's family could hold certain private ceremonies in memory of his late father as he was unable to attend his funeral, the case was directed to be rescheduled for further hearing on Wednesday.

Case Title: Abbas Ansari v. Union of India and Another

Click here to read/download the order