Updated: October 7, 2020 4:25:29 pm
Mathura police claimed to have seized material from laptops, telephones and literature related to the protests that could have “affected” law and order in the area.
A 41-year-old journalist from Delhi working with the Malayalam media and three others were booked on Wednesday under the Illegal Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and charged with sedition for their alleged links to the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its student organization Campus Front of India (CFI).
They were detained by Uttar Pradesh police on Monday afternoon at a toll plaza in Mathura while on their way to Hathras to meet the relatives of the late Dalit woman who was brutally assaulted and allegedly caught by four upper caste men last month.
The journalist was identified as Siddique Kappan, secretary of the Kerala Union of Worker Journalists (KUWJ) who writes for Malayalam news websites such as azhimukham.com. He is currently in the preventive custody of the Mathura Police. Apart from Kappan, IFC officials Atiq-ur-Rahman and Masood Ahmed have been detained along with another person identified as Alam.
the UAPA is primarily an anti-terrorism law – aimed at “more effectively preventing certain illicit activities by individuals and associations and dealing with terrorist activities”.
While Kappan hails from Kerala and has been living in the Nizamuddin area of Delhi for years, Rahman is from Muzaffarnagar, Ahmed from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur.
“During interrogation, the men said they were traveling from Delhi to Hathras to meet with the victim’s family and wanted to raise the voice of the family and bring ‘justice’ to them,” said a senior police officer in Mathura.
“During a check on the Maant toll plaza on Monday morning, we found the movement of a Swift Dzire car suspicious. We questioned the four people and they were taken to pretrial arrest under Section 151 of the CrPC. It seems they were heading towards Hathras. While no FIR has been filed against them, they said they are related to PFI and CFI during questioning, ”Gaurav Grover, SSP Mathura, told The Indian Express.
Mathura police claimed to have seized material from laptops, telephones and literature related to the protests that could have “affected” law and order in the area.
Speaking to The Indian Express, KN Ashok, editor of the news portal azhimukham.com, said: “Kappan has been writing to us about Delhi-NCR since January. On Monday, he texted me saying that he is going to Hathras for a story. I don’t know who the three people are with him. We tried to call him last night, but we couldn’t get through. Later, we found out that he had been detained by the Mathura police ”.
Kappan was detained at the toll plaza around 2 pm, said journalist Manikantan, a former KUWJ secretary. “Kappan started writing for azhimukham.com this year. It has no affiliation with PFI. Before, I used to write for Thejas, who is a spokesperson for PFI. He closed in 2018 due to a financial crisis and lost his job. Then he started working for another newspaper called Thalsamayam, which also closed last year, ”Manikantan said.
Meanwhile, KUWJ’s Delhi unit has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Prime Minister Yogi Adityanath about Kappan’s arrest. “We have filed a writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court against the illegal detention of a journalist who was doing his job… The Constitution of our country protects the freedom of the press. Kappan’s arrest is a violation of constitutional values, ”said the Union’s Delhi unit.
The letter to UP CM, signed by KUWJ President Miji José, read: “He is the KUWJ secretary… and he had gone to Hathras on Monday morning to cover the current situation in the area… We understand that he was arrested by police by UP Hathras toll plaza police. Our efforts and the efforts of some Delhi-based advocates to contact him were unsuccessful. “
The Press Club of India also issued a statement saying that Kappan should be “released without delay”. “It is our fear that the Yogi Adityanath government, in line with its clearly stated conspiracy theory as an explanation for the tragic incident in Hathras, will employ diversionary tactics to divert the focus from the many suspicious, possibly criminal actions of its police and administration. and the virtual silence of political leaders on the Hathras tragedy, ”he said.
In Bahraich, Additional SP K Gyananjay Singh said: “The young man identified as Masood Ahmed (23) is a resident of Jarwal town. Organizations such as PFI, CFI and SDPI work with a similar ideology to incite religious tension, conspire to provoke riots and disturb the peace. This person has been arrested in Mathura; also in the past, we have made several arrests in Jarwal town of people related to PFI and SDPI for trying to start riots during the Bhoomi Pujan in Ram Janambhoomi in Ayodhya.
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