The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government regarding a plea from Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan, who recently received bail after two years in connection with the Hathras case. Kappan is requesting a relaxation of a bail condition that requires him to report to the police station every Monday.
A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and R Mahadevan instructed the counsel for Uttar Pradesh to obtain instructions from the state and scheduled the matter for hearing in two weeks.
In September 2022, the Supreme Court granted bail to Kappan, who was charged by the Uttar Pradesh police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the alleged Hathras conspiracy case. When granting bail, the court imposed several conditions and affirmed that every individual has the right to freedom of speech and expression.
Kappan was arrested in October 2020 while en route to Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, after a Dalit woman died following a gang-rape. The Uttar Pradesh government has asserted that Kappan has close ties to the extremist organization Popular Front of India (PFI). They alleged that Kappan has “deep links” to terror funding and planning organizations like PFI and its student wing, the Campus Front of India (CFI), which are believed to have connections with Al Qaeda-affiliated groups, such as IHH in Turkey.
The Uttar Pradesh Police arrested Kappan and three others on October 5, 2020, in the Mant area of Mathura, claiming they intended to disturb peace and harmony in the region. The police identified the arrested individuals as Siddique from Malappuram, Atiq-ur Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed from Bahraich, and Alam from Rampur.
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However, Kappan, a reporter for the Malayalam news portal Azhimukham and secretary of the Delhi unit of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), maintains that he was traveling to report on the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl.