Supreme Court issues notice to UP on Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan's plea for bail

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, August 29

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Uttar Pradesh on Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan’s plea seeking bail in connection with a case registered against him by Uttar Pradesh Police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Asking the Uttar Pradesh government to respond to Kappan’s petition by September 5, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit posted the matter for September 9.

Kappan – who was arrested on October 5, 2020 while on his way to Hathras to cover gang-rape of a Dalit woman — has challenged an Allahabad High Court order rejecting his bail plea.

UP Police alleged that Kappan was a PFI activist who tried to create communal tension in Hathras and the newspaper he claimed to represent had already shut down two years ago. PFI had been accused of funding protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act across India.

After the September 14, 2020 incident, the 19-year-old woman had died on September 29 at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital and her body was cremated at night near her home on September 30 and the rape-cum-murder case was handed over to the CBI.

“The petitioner has spent almost two years behind bars on the basis of trumped-up charges only because he sought to discharge his professional duty of reporting on the infamous case,” Kappan said in his plea.

“Therefore, the present petition raises seminal questions pertaining to the right to liberty, as well as the freedom of expression and speech vested in independent media under the aegis of the Constitution,” he submitted.