New Delhi: Nearly after two years in custody, Keralite Journalist Siddique Kappan has been granted bail by the Supreme Court. ‘Every person has freedom of expression’, the apex court said, and directed Kappan to remain in Delhi for the next six weeks after the release from an Uttar Pradesh prison.
Siddique Kappan has been in jail since 2020, when he was arrested on his way to Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras to report on a 19-year-old’s gang-rape. He was charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The Chief Justice of India, UU Lalit, said the journalist would report to the police in Delhi for the next six weeks and in Kerala after that. The bench imposed certain conditions on him including asking him to surrender his passport and report to the police station on every Monday.
A reporter for Malayalam news portal Azhimukham, Siddique Kappan has been denied bail by courts earlier. The police said that he was trying to disturb law and order in Hathras. They had also alleged that the accused had links with the Popular Front of India (PFI). The journalist has maintained he is innocent and is being framed.
In court today, the Uttar Pradesh government argued that Kappan was paid to incite riots and that he is not an accredited journalist. ‘He was trying to create a riot situation and use explosives. He belongs to the PFI and this is a terrorist organization’, said Mahesh Jethmalani, lawyer for UP. The Supreme Court questioned the evidence against Mr Kappan. ‘What was found with Kappan? No explosives were found, material was not found with him but in the car and they weren’t used for propagating’, Justice Lalit said.
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