Lucknow:
A Kerala journalist and three others, who were arrested by Uttar Pradesh police while en route to Hathras earlier this week, have been charged under the strict anti-terrorism law, UAPA, and with sedition by the police. from Uttar Pradesh. In the FIR, the police have applied Article 17 of the UAPA, which tries to “raise funds for a terrorist act.”
Journalist Siddique Kappan had gone to Hathras on Monday to cover the situation following the alleged gang rape and death of the 20-year-old woman from the Programmed Caste, sparking outrage across the country.
Mr. Kappan, a contributor to a popular Kerala-based website, is also the secretary of the Delhi unit of the Kerala Union of Journalists at Work.
In a statement on Tuesday, police said they had received information that some “suspicious persons” were heading to Hathras from Delhi. The men, Atiq-ur Rehman, Siddique Kappan, Masood Ahmed and Alam, were stopped at a toll booth in Mathura and later arrested.
His mobile phones, a laptop and some literature, “which could have an impact on peace and law and order in the state,” were confiscated, according to the statement.
Police claimed that the men, during questioning, revealed that they had links to the PFI and its partner organization Campus Front of India (CFI). The FIR said that a pamphlet entitled “I am not the daughter of India” was recovered from them.
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