Journalist Siddique Kappan from Kerala, is released from UP jail after “28 Months, After Long Fight”
Inciting widespread indignation, Siddique Kappan was detained while en route to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh to report on the alleged gang rape and death of a 20-year-old Dalit woman.
Siddique Kappan, a journalist from Kerala who was detained in Uttar Pradesh more than two years ago while covering the alleged rape of a young woman whose death caused widespread demonstrations, was today freed. After being granted bail in the two cases against him, he had been in jail for more than a month.
“I’ll keep up the fight against oppressive legislation. After a protracted struggle, they kept me in jail for 28 months even after I received bail. I’m not sure who stands to gain by my imprisonment. Despite the difficulty of these two years, I never felt terrified “He told press after being freed from the jail in Lucknow.
Last night, Mr. Kappan was supposed to leave, but he was unable to do so because the judge of a special court that hears money laundering cases was preoccupied with a bar council election.
On his way to Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, in October 2020 to report on the alleged gang rape and death of a 20-year-old Dalit woman, which led to riots across the nation, he was detained. He was headed there, according to the cops, to stir some trouble.
A week after allegedly being subjected to many gang rapes, the woman passed away in a hospital in Delhi. The district authorities cremated her in the middle of the night in her hamlet, which led to claims of a cover-up and considerable criticism of the Yogi Adityanath administration.
Sedition charges were brought against Mr. Kappan under the strict anti-terror law UAPA. The Enforcement Directorate filed a money laundering case against him in February 2022, alleging that he had received funds from the outlawed People’s Front of India.
The Supreme Court granted him bail in September of last year after noting that no official charges had been brought against him and that a document found by the state police under the name “Toolkit” solely called for justice in the rape case.
Three months later, he was granted bail in the charge of money laundering. But a number of inefficiencies in the bureaucracy prevented his release.
The Uttar Pradesh government’s efforts to minimise unfavourable coverage of the incident in Hathras were blamed by the opposition and civil society organisations for Mr. Kappan’s arrest, which they claimed was an attempt by the BJP government to silence the media.
The journalist and other people seized alongside him, according to the police, are members of the outlawed Popular Front of India and its Campus Front of India student branch. Mr. Kappan has disavowed any connection in or sponsorship of terrorism. He claimed he was travelling to Hathras to conduct journalistic research.