SC relaxes bail condition of journalist Siddique Kappan in Hathras case

The Supreme Court on Monday granted relaxation to Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan regarding his bail condition to mark his presence at a police station in Uttar Pradesh every week.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Sandeep Mehta relaxed the condition set by the apex court in its September 2022 bail order.

Kappan, who was granted bail after two years in connection with the Hathras case approached the top court seeking relaxation of the bail conditions.

In September 2022, the apex court had granted bail to Kappan who was booked by the Uttar Pradesh police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) other charges in the alleged Hathras conspiracy case.

The apex court while granting bail to Kappan had imposed several conditions on him and also observed that every person has right to freedom of speech and expression.

He was arrested in October 2020 while on his way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh after a Dalit woman there died following a gang-rape.

Uttar Pradesh government had said that Kappan has close links with extremist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI).

Uttar Pradesh had said that Kappan has "deep links" with terror funding/ planning organisations like PFI and its student wing, Campus Front of India (CFI). These organisations have allegedly been found to have connections with Al Qaeda linked organisations like IHH in Turkey, Uttar Pradesh government had said.

The Uttar Pradesh Police had arrested Kappan and three others on October 5, 2020, from the Mant area of Mathura. Police had claimed that the accused were travelling to Hathras to disturb peace and harmony in the area.

The police had identified the four arrested persons; Siddique from Malappuram, Atiq-ur Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur.

However, Kappan, a reporter for Malayalam news portal Azhimukham and secretary of the Delhi unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), has maintained that he was going there to report on the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl.