The Supreme Court today granted interim bail for five days to journalist Siddique Kappan to meet his ailing mother. The court directed the Uttar Pradesh police to take Kappan to meet his mother in Kerala, and told the journalist not to speak with the press or anyone else, save for relatives and doctors.

Kappan was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police on October 5 last year while he was on his way to report on the gangrape and murder of a teenaged Dalit girl by four upper caste Thakur men in Hathras, UP. He was booked under sedition and the anti-terrorism law UAPA.

Siddique last saw his bed-ridden mother, Kadija Kutty, 90, when the top court allowed him to make a 10-minute video call on January 28. However, due to her critical condition, she was unable to respond or even look at the screen of the cellphone. “He saw the condition his mother was in and he is heartbroken,” Siddique’s wife Raihana told Newslaundry earlier this month.