Siddique Kappan was charged with sedition and charged under the UAPA’s strict anti-terror law.
Siddique Kappan, a Kerala journalist who was arrested more than two years ago in Uttar Pradesh on terror charges while covering the alleged rape of a young woman whose death sparked protests across the country, has been released from prison today . A special court in Lucknow had signed his release order more than a month after he was granted bail in the two cases against him.
“I will continue my fight against the draconian laws. They kept me in prison even after I got out on bail. I don’t know who benefits from being in prison. These two years have been very hard, but I was never scared,” he said. NewsMadura after his release.
Mr. Kappan was supposed to run away last night, but he could not be released because the judge of the Special Court for the Prevention of Money Laundering was conducting an election of the bar.
He was arrested in October 2020 while on his way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh to report on the alleged gang rape and death of a 20-year-old woman from the scheduled caste community, sparking protests across the country. Police said he went there to stir up trouble.
He was charged with sedition and charged under the UAPA’s strict anti-terror law. In February 2022, the Enforcement Directorate filed a money laundering case against him, accusing him of receiving money from India’s banned Popular Front.
Last September, the Supreme Court granted Mr Kappan bail after finding that no formal charges had been filed against him and a document called “Toolkit” recovered by state police only propagated a call for justice in the rape case.
Three months later, he was granted bail in the money laundering case. But his release was held up due to multiple bureaucratic errors.
The opposition and civil society groups condemned the arrest of Mr Kappan, which was prompted by the efforts of the Uttar Pradesh government to avoid negative coverage of the Hathras incident and was a case of the BJP government trying to silence the media to cord.
Police have claimed that the journalist and others arrested with him are members of the outlawed Popular Front of India and its student arm, the Campus Front of India. Mr Kappan has denied any involvement in acts of terrorism or financing. He said he was on his way to Hathras for journalism work.
