New Delhi: After spending 46 days in custody, Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan met his lawyer Saturday and signed the ‘Vakalatnama’, which is a document that empowers a lawyer to act for and on behalf of his client.
His lawyer Wills Mathews told ThePrint that jail authorities were very “supportive and cooperative”.
“He is perfectly alright in the jail … But he is 100 per cent falsely implicated,” Mathews said.
He also said that he had requested for a 30-minute long meeting with Kappan, which happened around 12-12:30 pm Saturday.
The development comes a day after the Uttar Pradesh government denied illegally confining Kappan and said that there was no objection to his meeting his lawyers.
Kappan was arrested on 5 October while on his way to Hathras to report the aftermath of the alleged gang rape and death of a Dalit woman. He was arrested at a toll plaza in Mathura along with three others under Section 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows an arrest to prevent commission of a cognizable offence.
Also read: ‘PFI link, anti-CAA, riot intention’ — What Kerala journalist headed to Hathras is accused of
KUWJ efforts to ‘find’ Kappan
A day after his arrest, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court, demanding his release. This was after the KUWJ office-bearers as well as Kappan’s family were unable to contact Kappan or get any information on his whereabouts for over 24 hours after his arrest. Kappan is the elected secretary of the Delhi unit of KUWJ.
The petition said the arrest was “with a view to obstruct the discharge of duty of the detenu in the capacity as journalist”. It alleged that the Supreme Court’s guidelines for arrest and detention were violated, as neither his family members nor his colleagues were informed about the arrest or the place of his detention.
A day after this petition was filed, an FIR was registered on 7 October in Mathura, charging Kappan under Section 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Information Technology Act.
In a subsequent application filed on 29 October, the KUWJ alleged that multiple attempts from their side to meet Kappan since his arrest had failed. This application had, therefore, demanded a direction to jail authorities to allow Kappan to “sign a vakalatnama, authorising his legal representatives to act on his behalf in his legal defence”.
In response, the UP government had filed an affidavit in Supreme Court on Friday, claiming that KUWJ had concealed the fact that a lawyer had appeared for Kappan before the magistrate in Mathura where he was produced after his arrest on 6 October. His brother was informed about the arrest and given details of the place and time of his custody, the state further claimed.
According to the state, no lawyer or family has approached jail authorities with a request to meet Kappan. However, he has spoken with his family members on three occasions, it stated.
Also read: Arrest of Kerala journalist, 3 others UP govt’s move to hide Hathras case failures, CFI says