Kerala journalist, three others booked in UP under UAPA, sedition charges

Uttar Pradesh police have searched Malayalam journalist Siddique Kappan and three other people for sedition, as well as under strict UAPA, a day after they were arrested on their way to Hathras, the home of a Dalit woman who died after allegedly being gang raped. The Uttar Pradesh police had said they had been arrested for having links to the Popular Front of India and its affiliate in Mathura.

Siddique from Malappuram, Atiq-ur Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur have been booked by the Mathura police. Siddique Kappan is a Delhi-based senior journalist working for various Malayalam media outlets, including azhimukham.com.

The copy of the FIR (first information report), to which TNM had access, indicates that the four men had gone to disturb the peace in Hathras and that there is a great conspiracy behind their visit.

The FIR shows that all four have been registered under 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious sentiments) and 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as the section 17. (Penalty for raising funds for terrorist acts) and 14 (Penalty for illegal activities) of the Illegal Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967.

The four have also been registered under section 65 (manipulation of computer-based documents), 72 (punishment for sending offensive messages through the communication service) and 76 (punishment for violation of privacy) of the Technology Law Information (Amendment) 2008.

The FIR also mentions the website, justiceforhathrasvictim.carrd.co, who had information on how to protest safely and avoid the police. The police have stated that the website incites violence and threatens the situation of law and order. “It has been discovered that the main intention of this website is to promote community hatred, cause unrest in society and cause large-scale disturbances,” states the FIR, adding that all four have been arrested for “major conspiracy.” All four defendants have been accused of running the website and that it has been created under the guise of ‘raising funds’ to incite violence. However, the PFI link has not been mentioned in the FIR.

Uttar Pradesh police had said on Monday that they confiscated mobile phones, laptops and some literature, which “could have an impact on peace and law and order,” from those arrested. During questioning, it emerged that the four people arrested had ties to the PFI and its partner organization Campus Front of India, UP police had claimed.

The Delhi unit of the Kerala Union of Worker Journalists (KUWJ) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath calling for his release, saying that he would go to Hathras only to fulfill his duty as a reporter. Calling Kappan’s arrest illegal and unconstitutional, the KUWJ also filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking his immediate court appearance and release from “illegal detention.”

Kappan is also a KUWJ secretary and was on his way to Hathras only to fulfill his duty as a reporter, KUWJ’s Delhi unit chairman Miji Jose told the Chief Minister in his letter, urging him to order his release.

“We understand that he was stopped by the Uttar Pradesh police from the Hathras toll plaza. Our efforts and the efforts of some Delhi-based defenders to contact him were unsuccessful,” KUWJ said.

Hathras has been in the news following the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman who was allegedly gang-raped on 14 September in a village in the district. And her nightly cremation, allegedly without parental consent, has sparked widespread outrage.