UP Court Refuses Bail To Kerala Journalist Siddique Kappan In UAPA Case

A local court in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh has rejected the bail plea of Kerala-based journalist Siddique Kappan who has been booked under various offences under the stringent UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act).Taking note of the allegations against Kappan, Additional Sessions Judge Anil Kumar Pandey rejected the bail plea. The Court primarily took into account the alleged material collected against him during the investigation carried out to deny him bail.The court noted that the allegation against Kappan is that he, along with the co-accused committed acts that promoted enmity within the society and affected the communal harmony prevailing in the society.The Court also noted that it has been alleged that Kappan had received foreign funding for the purpose of affecting and damaging the integrity of the nation and that during the investigation, it had been found out that he is a worker of PFI and has been indulged in anti-national actsThe Court said that though Kappan submitted that he wanted to proceed to Hathras in the capacity of a Journalist, however, the identity card which was found with him was of a news platform, which had stopped its operations in the year 2018.A Mathura Court had recently dropped the proceedings against Kerala-based journalist Siddique Kappan and three other persons in connection with a case registered against them under charges related to apprehension of breach of peace while they were on their way to Hathras to meet the family of a Dalit woman allegedly raped and murdered last year.BackgroundThe accused [Atiqur Rahman, Masood Ahmed and Alam and Siddique Kappan] were arrested by the Maan police under the above-mentioned charges while they were going to Hathras.Initially, they were arrested under the apprehension of causing a breach of peace and were produced before a court of the sub-divisional magistrate which sent them to judicial custody.Subsequently, they were booked under the UAPA alleging that he and his co-passengers were trying to incite communal riots and disrupt social harmony in the wake of the Hathras gangrape-murder case.They have been under judicial custody and in April 2021, eight people linked to Popular Front of India, including its students' wing leader K A Rauf Sherif and Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan, were charge-sheeted by Uttar Pradesh police's Special Task Force in a court here for sedition, criminal conspiracy, funding of terror activities and other offences.While being in judicial custody, the court, which was hearing the case related to breach of peace sent them a notice under Section 111 of CrPC which is related to the order of the magistrate against any person, likely to commit a breach of peace.Thereafter, a notice was served to them in jail asking them as to why they should not be asked to submit a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each, along with sureties from two guarantors of the same amount.They denied the charges levelled against them and thereafter, since the police, in the prescribed period of six months, could not produce evidence in support of their case, the court yesterday discharged the accused on technical grounds.

UP Court Refuses Bail To Kerala Journalist Siddique Kappan In UAPA Case

Sparsh Upadhyay

Tags