Allahabad, Feb 2 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday agreed to permit three alleged PFI members lodged in a Mathura jail to meet lawyers in accordance with the jail manual.

They were arrested by the UP Police while going to Hathras to meet the family of a gang-rape victim last year.

Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal made this submission before the Allahabad High Court after the counsel for the petitioners stated that the Superintendent of the Mathura jail is not allowing the meeting.

Hearing a habeas corpus writ petition filed by Atiq-ur-Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Masood from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur, a Division Bench comprising Justices Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Shamim Ahmed fixed February 4 as the next date of hearing.

The three men were arrested by the Mathura police on October 5 last year. An FIR was lodged under Sections 17 and 18 of the UAPA; Sections 124-A,153-A and 295-A of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the IT Act.

It was alleged in the FIR that the petitioners were going to Hathras with an intention to take undue benefit of the incident and to disturb law and order situation by fueling castes tensions.

Following their arrest, police had alleged that the three had links to the Popular Front of India's student wing Campus Front of India (CFI).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)