SC grants bail to Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan

Story by ANI | Posted by Tripti Nath | Date 09-09-2022

Supreme Court of India

New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan who was booked by the Uttar Pradesh police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), while observing that every person has the Right To Freedom of Speech and Expression.

A bench of Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and P Narasimha directed that Kappan shall be produced before the trial court within three days and he shall be released on bail. It directed that upon release Kappan shall stay in Delhi and mark his presence in a local police station on every Monday. After six weeks he can relocate to his native place in Kerala and report to the local police station, it said.

He was directed not to leave Delhi without permission of the trial court. Kappan or his lawyer shall attend every single hearing of trial court and he shall surrender his passport before release, the bench further stated. The Supreme Court said Kappan shall not misuse the liberty or be in touch with any person concerned with the matter or are accused. It also granted Kappan the liberty to apply for bail in the proceedings initiated against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002.

The order of the top court came on a plea filed by Kappan against the order of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court that had rejected his bail application saying "the use of tainted money cannot be ruled out". Kappan was booked under UAPA and other charges in the alleged Hathras conspiracy case.

During the hearing of Kappan's bail plea, the bench observed that every person has the Right To Freedom of Speech and Expression. CJI Lalit said, "Every person has a right to free expression, he was trying to show that victim needs justice and raise a common voice" and further asked the Uttar Pradesh government will this be a crime in the eyes of law.

The bench said that the material produced by the prosecution attributed to Kappan as a toolkit seemed to be in a foreign language.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government told the bench that there was propaganda surrounding the Hathras incident and Kappan was part of the conspiracy by the Popular Front of India (PFI) to incite riots.

The Hathras incident was attempted to be used as a tool to foment unrest, he said. "They were on their way to Hathras to create unrest. They were going to distribute this literature among the Dalit population. The whole propaganda was justice for Hathras victim...," Jethmalani said.

To this, Justice Ravindra Bhat said, "There were protests at India Gate in 2011 also for Nirbhaya. Sometimes protests are needed to bring a change. You know after that there was a change in laws."

The Uttar Pradesh government had previously opposed the bail plea of Kappan saying he has close links with the extremist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI). Kappan has "deep links" with terror funding/ planning organisations like PFI and its student wing, Campus Front of India (CFI). These organisations have allegedly been found to have connections with Al-Qaeda-linked organisations like IHH in Turkey, Uttar Pradesh government had said in its affidavit.

Filing its response, the government had further stated that Kappan was actually a part of the PFI/CFI delegation to meet the family of the Hathras victim and foment discord and spread terror.

"Investigation has shown that the said delegation was sent to Hathras on the directions of co-accused Rauf Sharif (National General Secretary, CFI, prime fund-raiser and financial transaction handler for PFI/CFI), who had also provided finances for the trip," it added.

In his plea, Kappan had stated that the High Court has not taken into account the fact that he is an established journalist with over 12 year's experience, and that he is a member of both the Delhi Press Club and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists. He added that both outfits have issued certificates authenticating Kappan's credentials as a journalist.

The Uttar Pradesh Police 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 the arrested persons as Siddique from Malappuram, Atiq-ur Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur.

Kappan, a reporter for Malayalam news portal Azhimukham and secretary of the Delhi unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), has maintained that he was going there to report on the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl.

In April, the UP Police's Special Task Force (STF) charge-sheeted him and seven others under the stringent UAPA and sections of the Information Technology Act.