Journalist Siddique Kappan moves SC seeking bail

NEW DELHI: Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan who was booked by the Uttar Pradesh government under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and other charges in the alleged Hathras conspiracy case, has approached the Supreme Court seeking bail. The plea was mentioned on Wednesday before Chief Justice of India NV Ramana who agreed to list the matter on August 26.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on August 2 rejected the bail application of Kappan saying "the use of tainted money cannot be ruled out." The journalist approached the apex court against the High Court order. The Uttar Pradesh Police had arrested Kappan and three others on October 5, 2020, from the Mant area of Mathura. Police had claimed that the accused were travelling to Hathras to disturb peace and harmony in the area.

The police had said it arrested four people having links with the PFI in Mathura and identified those arrested as Siddique from Malappuram, Atiq-ur-Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur. However, Kappan, a reporter for Malayalam news portal Azhimukham and secretary of the Delhi unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists, has maintained that he was going there to report on the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl- the incident that sparked a furor in September 2020.

In April this year, the UP Police's Special Task Force chargesheeted him and seven others under the stringent UAPA and sections of the Information Technology Act.