New Delhi: Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan was Thursday denied bail by the Allahabad High Court on grounds that he ‘had no work at Hathras’. Uttar Pradesh Police had arrested the journalist along with three others on 5 October 2020 while on their way to Hathras.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court consisted of judge Justice Krishan Pahal. The UP Police accused Kappan and the others of creating communal disharmony, invoking numerous sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA. The Kerala journalist is also accused of being linked with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and executing illegal activities for the Islamic group.
The judgment said, “The defence taken by the applicant that he is a journalist and only owing to his professional duty, he wanted to visit the place of Hathras incident stands nullified by the averments in the charge-sheet and the persons, he was arrested with, while travelling in a car. The tainted money being used by the applicant and his colleagues cannot be ruled out.”
Previously, a Mathura court had also rejected Kappan’s bail plea.
Siddique Kappan is a reporter for Malayalam news portal Azhimukham and the secretary of the Delhi unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ).
Read the full text of the judgment here: