The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on the bail plea of journalist Siddique Kappan, who was arrested 22 months ago on his way to cover the gang-rape and murder of a Dalit teen in Hathras.
A bench of Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and Justice S. Ravindra Bhat posted the matter for final disposal on September 9.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Kappan, told the bench that the only allegation against Kappan was that the Popular Front of India (PFI) had transferred Rs 45,000 to his account.
“There is no evidence against me. No material against me. There is nothing against me. They are just allegations,” the senior counsel submitted while pointing out that the PFI was not a banned organisation as was being claimed by the state government.
Uttar Pradesh government’s additional advocate-general, Garima Prashad, opposed the bail plea on the ground that eight accused were now in jail in connection with the Hathras case and some of them were also involved in the communal riots in Delhi in 2020.
Sibal said Kappan’s name figured nowhere in the Delhi riots.
The CJI asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file a response on an affidavit so that the court could dispose of the matter on September 9.
Kappan, who was working as a reporter in Delhi, is accused by the Uttar Pradesh government of conniving with the PFI and engaging in anti-national activities.
On October 5, 2020, while he was on his way to Hathras, he was picked up and detained along with three others by the police in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district. Subsequently, he was booked under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court had earlier this month rejected Kappan’s bail application.
In his special leave petition challenging the high court order, Kappan pleaded that he had already spent nearly two years in jail on the basis of trumped-up charges only because he sought to discharge his professional duty as a reporter.
“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 petition filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap stated.
An apex court bench, led by the then Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, had on February 15, 2021, granted bail to Kappan for five days to meet his ailing mother. On April 28, 2021, the court directed that he be shifted from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi’s AIIMS because of ill-health. Thereafter, he was shifted back to Uttar Pradesh where he continues to be under judicial custody.
