The Supreme Court will take up on Friday the bail plea of Siddique Kappan, a Malayalam journalist arrested on terror charges in Uttar Pradesh 22 months ago on his way to cover the gang rape and murder of a Dalit teen in Hathras.
The bench of Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justices Hima Kohli and C.T. Ravi Kumar assured advocate Haris Beeran, appearing for Kappan, that the matter would be heard on Friday after the counsel sought urgent listing of the journalist’s bail application.
The plea has challenged the dismissal of bail by Allahabad High Court on August 2. Kappan was arrested in Mathura on October 5, 2020, and is currently in judicial custody in the local jail. The prosecution accuses Kappan, who was travelling in a cab with three members of the Popular Front of India, of conspiring to incite caste conflict and violence by exploiting the Hathras incident.
He is charged under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).In his special leave petition challenging the high court order, Kappan has pleaded that he has spent nearly two years behind bars on the basis of trumped-up charges only because he had sought to discharge his professional duty of reporting on the Hathras brutality.
The petition, filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap, stated: “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.”
The appeal has contested the high court order on the following grounds:
- The high court has grossly overlooked the well-established principles regarding the grant of bail, and without affording any cogent reasons, has mechanically dismissed Kappan’s bail application.
- The judgment has failed to consider the dictum laid down by the apex court in Sudesh Kedia v Union of India (2021), where it was held that “while considering the grant of bail, under Section 43-D(5), it is the bounden duty of the court to apply its mind to examine the entire material on record for the purpose of satisfying itself, whether a prima facie case is made out against the accused or not….”Kappan has contended that the high court has “egregiously failed to discharge its bounden duty of examining the entire material on record to decide whether or not a prima facie case has been made out”.
- The high court has failed to take note of the fact that the FIR/ chargesheet ex facie does not make out a case for the invocation of Sections 17 and 18 of the UAPA (relating to alleged receipt/ raising of funds for terrorist activities).
- The high court has glossed over the fact that Kappan had on two prior occasions been granted bail by the Supreme Court for a total period of close to a month for the purpose of visiting his ailing mother and for receiving treatment for Covid. There is no allegation that Kappan had attempted to flout the conditions imposed, or sought to tamper with evidence or threaten/ intimidate witnesses during this period.
- The high court has not taken into account the fact that Kappan is an established journalist with over 12 years’ experience, and that he is a member of both the Delhi press club and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists. Both outfits have issued certificates authenticating Kappan’s credentials as a journalist.
- Apart from a “bald statement” to the effect that a perusal of the chargesheet and the attached documents indicate that the alleged offences have been committed, no reasons have been cited by the high court to indicate how such a conclusion had been arrived at.
- The petitioner is an individual with clean antecedents, and has never fallen foul of the law. He is the sole breadwinner of his family and his incarceration since October 2020 has caused untold financial and mental hardship to his family and friends.
- Kappan is willing to submit himself to any terms and conditions the Supreme Court may impose.