Supreme Court Allows Sitaram Yechury To Visit J&K To Meet Party Colleague Yusuf Tarigami

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury to visit Jammu and Kashmir to meet his party colleague and former MLA Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami in the state.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, however, directed Yechury to only meet Tarigami and not use the visit for any political purpose.

"We will permit you to go, you are the general secretary of a party. Don't go for anything else," said Gogoi.

The bench said if Yechury indulges in any political activities, authorities are free to report them to the apex court.

On August 24, Sitaram Yechury had filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court for production of party leader Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, who is allegedly under detention in Jammu and Kashmir since the Central Government abrogated provisions of Article 370.

Tarigami is a member of the Central Committee of the CPI(M) and has served as a four-time MLA of the dissolved Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

The writ petition was filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, according to a statement by the CPI(M).

Yechury was also part of the delegation of Opposition leaders who had gone to Srinagar on Saturday to see the ground situation in the region. However, they were not allowed to step out of Srinagar airport and were sent back an hour after landing in the city.

"If everything is fine there, then why they stopped us? First when we went there on August 9, then we were stopped. Now 12 people from 10 political parties went there on invitation from the Governor. After going there, we were in a way detained at the airport," he had said.

(With inputs from agencies)