Hathras Arrests: Siddique Kappan moves Supreme Court seeking bail

Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan who has been booked by the Uttar Pradesh government under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) has approached the Supreme Court seeking bail..The plea was mentioned on Wednesday before Chief Justice of India NV Ramana by advocate Haris Beeran seeking urgent listing.He submitted that the accused is in jail for two years and was arrested by the Police when he had gone to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh on journalistic duty. The CJI sought to know reasons for the delay in filing the plea. The counsel then submitted that the High Court verdict came earlier this month. The CJI then agreed to list the matter on Friday, August 26..Kappan has challenged the order of the Allahabad High Court which had rejected his bail on August 2.He has contended that the High Court grossly overlooked the well established principles regarding the grant of bail, and without affording any cogent reasons, mechanically dismissed the bail application."The High Court, whilst passing the impugned order has egregiously failed to discharge its bounden duty of examining the entire material on record to decide whether or not a prima facie case has been made out," the plea said.The High Court has failed to take note of the fact that the FIR / charge sheet does not make out a case for the invocation of Section 17 and Section 18 of the UAPA, it was submitted..Kappan, a reporter for Malayalam news portal Azhimukham and secretary of the Delhi unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), was arrested along with three others in Uttar Pradesh in October 2020 while on his way to Hathras to report on the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl.The prosecution's case is that Kappan and the co-accused were travelling to Hathras with an intention to disturb harmony in the area. It was stated that they were collecting funds to run a website full of misinformation and to incite violence.All of them were charged under Sections 17 and 18 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Section 124A (sedition), Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion) and Section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of Indian Penal Code and Sections 65, 72 and 75 of the Information Technology Act.A Mathura court had rejected Kappan's bail plea in July 2021 on the ground that there was prima facie case that Kappan and other co-accused were trying to disturb the law and other situation when they were heading to cover the Hathras gang rape incident in Uttar Pradesh.He then approached the High Court.Single-judge Justice Krishan Pahal, however, rejected the plea stating that a prima facie case was established by the prosecution that his travel with co-accused who did not belong to the media fraternity, as well as tainted money being used by him and his colleagues, were crucial circumstances going against him. The order stated,"The State machinery was at tenterhooks owing to the tension prevailing due to various types of information being viral across all forums of media including the internet. The said sojourn of the applicant with co-accused persons who do not belong to media fraternity is a crucial circumstance going against him."The High Court had also reasoned that Kappan's defence that he was visiting Hathras to fulfil his journalistic duty, was nullified by the claims made by the prosecution in the charge sheet..However, one of the accused in the case, Mohammad Alam, who was the driver of the cab in which the accused were travelling, was granted bail by the High Court on Tuesday. .[Read Order]