NEW DELHI: After almost two years of custody without trial, the Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Kerala-based journalist Siddique Kappan, arrested in October 2020 while on his way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh where a Dalit woman had died after allegedly being gang-raped.
Considering Kappan’s length of custody, the fact that a charge sheet has been filed but charges are yet to be framed, a bench led by CJI UU has directed for producing Kappan within three days from today & also asked the trial court to impose necessary conditions which the court seems important to ensure his participation in the trial.
In addition to bail conditions, a bench also comprising Justices SR Bhat and PS Narasimha has asked Kappan to remain present in Delhi for 6 weeks & report every Monday at police station Nizamuddin. The bench also imposed certain conditions on him including asking him to surrender his passport and report to the police station every Monday.
“After 6 weeks Kappan can go back to his native place Malappuram & report on every Monday at the police station,” SC has also said.
Court has also asked Kappan to appear either in person or through a lawyer for attending lower court proceedings & also to deposit his passport (if not deposited) with the investigating machinery before his actual release.
“At this stage, we refrain from dealing with and commenting upon the progress of investigation & material gathered by the prosecution as the matter is still to be taken up at the stage of change,” the bench said in its order. SC has also asked Kappan to not misuse his liberty or get in touch with any of the people connected with the controversy.
Court’s order came in pleas challenging Allahabad HC’s August 2 order where he was denied bail. Assailing the HC’s order, Kappan in the plea argued that the HC had mechanically dismissed his bail without affording any cogent reasons.
Seeking bail, Kappan in the petition had argued that the HC had failed to take note of the fact that FIR/charge-sheet ex facie does not make case for invocation of section 17 (punishment for raising funds for the terrorist act) and 18 (punishment for conspiracy) of UAPA.
Objecting to Kappan’s bail, Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani for the State of Uttar Pradesh apprised the bench of a meeting attended by Kappan with PFI in September 2020 wherein it was decided that although the funding would stop they would go to sensitive areas and incite riots.
Jethmalani also submitted that on October 5, 2020, they decided to go to Hathras to incite riots and while he was apprehended, the State found that he was accredited to the official organisation of PFI.
Stressing the fact that Jharkhand had notified PFI as a terrorist group, Jethmalani also added that it was a fit case to invoke section 124A against Kappan since they were creating disaffection using the rape of a minor girl. He also submitted that the state was attempting to expedite the trial and was also trying to get an approver.
“If you say your attempts to make somebody approver is on, it means the matter is not ripe for trial,” the CJI remarked.
“Every person has the right of free expression and he wants to propagate an idea that let the victim get justice and raise a common voice. Will this be a crime in the eyes of law?” CJI UU Lalit remarked when Jethmalani pointed out the literature which according to him was the toolkit for riots.
“There were protests at India gate for Nirbhaya. Sometimes protests are needed to bring change. You know after that there was a change in laws,” Justice SR Bhat added.
Pointing out to the literature which was being carried by Kappan on his way to Hathras, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal for Kappan submitted that it was for “Justice for Hathras Girl” and that some of the documents were not even related to India. He further remarked that the entire case was, “not prosecution but persecution.”
Earlier, a bench led by CJI UU Lalit and SR Bhat had sought the UP government's response to the petition. Before the SC, the UP government in the affidavit had submitted that Kappan was never going to cover an incident of rape and murder of a Dalit girl but was going as a part of a delegation of the Campus Front of India, the PFI’s student wing and was accompanied by persons who have rioting cases against them.
UP government had also contended that the investigation had demonstrated Kappan’s deep links with terror funding/planning with PFI/CFI.
In October 2020, Kappan along with other accused was arrested by UP Police while they were proceeding to report the Hathras rape-murder crime. Initially, they were arrested under the apprehension to cause a breach of peace.
Subsequently, they were booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Allegations levelled against them were that in the wake of the Hathras gang rape they were trying to incite communal riots and disrupt social harmony. It was also alleged in the FIR that the accused(s) were financed to go to Hathras by the terrorist gang in furtherance of a plan to spread disharmony in society.
India has slipped to 10 places in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom ranking to 150 out of 180 since 2014. Nine other journalists are currently in prison, according to Reporters Without Borders.