SC relaxes journalist Siddique Kappan’s bail condition

Siddique Kappan was arrested in October 2020 enroute to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh following the death of a Dalit woman who was allegedly gangraped.

The Supreme Court on Monday (November 4, 2024) allowed a petition filed by Kerala-based journalist Siddique Kappan for relaxation of a bail condition to report to the police every week in a UAPA case registered against him.

A Bench headed by Justice PS Narasimha modified the top court’s September 2022 order which had required him to report to the local police station.

“It shall not be necessary for the petitioner to report to the local police station,” the court allowed.

Mr. Kappan was arrested in October 2020 enroute to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh following the death of a Dalit woman who was allegedly gangraped.

More on Siddique Kappan

• My life continues to be an open jail: Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan

• Sedition and its roots in rudeness as an offence

• Why the woes of Indian journalism affect all Indians

• Relief, at last: On bail to journalist Siddique Kappan  

The Supreme Court had allowed him to be released on bail on September 9, 2022. By then he had suffered custody for nearly two years. The apex court had held that “every person has a right to free expression”.

The State of Uttar Pradesh had opposed the bail, calling Mr. Kappan an “agent provocateur” for the “terror gang” Popular Front of India who was financed and sent to incite riots in Hathras.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Haris Beeran, for Mr. Kappan, had said the case was “not prosecution but persecution”.

Published - November 04, 2024 12:01 pm IST