Siddique Kappan, a journalist from Kerala, will be let out of jail next week, an official said as the Supreme Court granted him bail.
“Since a few months ago, Siddique Kappan has been in the Lucknow jail. Once his bail order is submitted here and a release order is made, he will be let out of jail”, said Public Relations Officer (PRO) Santosh Kumar Verma from the office of the DGP (Prison).
Siddique Kappan was arrested in October 2020 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He was on his way to Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, where a Dalit woman had died after being allegedly gang-raped by the dominant caste men of the area.
The police in Mathura said that he had ties to the extremist group Popular Front of India (PFI). Later, he was moved to the jail in Lucknow.
While giving him bail, the Supreme Court said that the UP government had not been able to show that the papers found in the car he was driving to Hathras were in any way dangerous.
A bench of judges, comprising India’s Chief Justice UU Lalit, said that everyone has the right to free speech. “He (Kappan) is trying to show that the victim needs justice and get everyone to speak up. Does the law consider that a crime?” When the UP government said that the documents were about “how to protect against riots,” CJI Lalit said, “That’s not true.”
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