Hundreds of women demonstrated in arrested journalist Siddique Kappan’s hometown of Vengara in Kerala, demanding his release, at a Women’s Day event on Monday.

More than five months after the 41-year-old’s arrest, women including local leaders of non-BJP parties expressed support for his wife Raihanath, who has been waging a non-stop battle to get her husband freed.

Members of three panchayats in Vengara, Malappuram district, joined the protest meeting along with hundreds of women from the neighbourhood as well as Kappan’s family and friends.

“It was a women’s protest to mark Women’s Day, where everyone voiced concern that a journalist who had gone

to do his duty was arrested and jailed,” Raihanath told The Telegraph.

“It’s such solidarity from known and unknown people that provides me the courage to carry on with this battle for justice.”

The Delhi-based Kappan was arrested on terror charges in Uttar Pradesh on October 5 while travelling to Hathras, where a Dalit teen had been fatally gang-raped.

Uttar Pradesh police have charged Kappan and three companions with planning to foment trouble and accused them of being members of the Popular Front of India, an extremist organisation.

Kappan has denied the charges and said his objective was to cover the gang rape and murder for his employer, a Malayalam news portal.

With Kappan’s regular bail plea expected to come up before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Raihanath expressed hope that he would be freed sooner than later. “We are all hopeful that the court will grant bail and eventually acquit him of all the charges. We all know he is innocent,” she said.

Kappan had visited his home in Kerala for five days in February after the apex court granted him interim bail to see his critically ill, 90-year-old mother.

In previous protests in Thiruvananthapuram and Malappuram, hundreds of people had joined Raihanath in demanding Kappan’s release.