Supreme Court allows plea by Siddique Kappan to relax bail condition

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the plea by Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan seeking relaxation of bail condition to mark his presence at a police station in Uttar Pradesh every week [Siddique Kappan vs The State of Uttar Pradesh].A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Sandeep Mehta relaxed the condition set by the top court in its September 2022 bail order in the case against Kappan under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).The Supreme Court had in September 2022 granted bail to Kappan in the case filed against him by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police under UAPA.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 gangrape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl.The prosecution's case is that Kappan was travelling to Hathras with an intention to disturb harmony in the area. and collecting funds to run a website full of misinformation to incite violence.The State's allegation was that Kappan has close links with extremist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) and he was part of the larger conspiracy to foment religious discord and spread terror in the country.Besides UAPA, he was also booked for the offence of money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and was lodged in Lucknow jail since December 2020.In the UAPA case, he was denied bail by lower courts and the Allahabad High Court, before the top court granted him relief in September 2022.In the case under PMLA, he was granted bail by Allahabad High Court in December 2022.He was eventually released from Lucknow Central jail in February 2023..Kappan's present application was filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap. Advocates Haris Beeran and Azhar Asees appeared for Kappan.Senior Additional Advocate General Sharan Dev Singh Thakur with advocates Ruchira Goel, Sharanya Sinha and Harshita Nigam appeared for the State of Uttar Pradesh.