Allahabad High Court Denies Bail To Siddique Kappan's In UAPA Case

The Allahabad High Court has rejected the bail plea moved by journalist Siddique Kappan in connection with the 'Hathras Conspiracy Case'. The bench of Justice Krishna Pahal denied him bail after reserving the verdict on Tuesday. The detailed order is yet to be uploaded.The online case status showed Kappan's application as dismissed on merits.The background of the case against KappanSiddique Kappan along with other accused were arrested by the UP police in October 2020 while they were proceeding to report the Hathras rape-murder crime.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.Kappan had moved the Court after a local court in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh had rejected his bail plea last year in July. Kappan, who was booked under various offences under the stringent UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) was denied bail by the local Court while taking note of the allegations against him.Additional Sessions Judge Anil Kumar Pandey had primarily taken into account the alleged material collected against Kappan 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.Kappan and others are facing charges under Sections 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Sedition (S. 124-A IPC), Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion (S. 153-A IPC), deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings (S. 295-A IPC) and Section 65, 72 and 75 of the IT Act.

Allahabad High Court Denies Bail To Siddique Kappan's In UAPA Case

Sparsh Upadhyay

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