“Shocking findings in the investigation against a journalist from Kerala” – up to the highest court
New Delhi:
The Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that “shocking findings” have emerged in the investigation so far in the case in which Kerala-based scribe Siddique Kappan was arrested on his way to Hathras, where a Dalit girl had died after allegedly being gang-raped.
Kappan claimed that he is working as a journalist at a Kerala-based newspaper, but that newspaper was closed two years ago, the state government told a court headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde.
“The investigation conducted so far has found some shocking findings,” Attorney General Tushar Mehta told the court, which also included Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
The high court, which was hearing a guilty plea from the Kerala Trade Union of Worker Journalists (KUWJ) questioning the arrest of Mr. Kappan, asked the petitioner if he would like to transfer to the high court.
Lead attorney Kapil Sibal, who appeared for KUWJ, said he would argue the matter in higher court and that the petitioner would implement Kappan’s wife and others in the guilty plea.
“The higher court has granted a month of habeas corpus time for other defendants in the same case and I want to discuss here,” Sibal said, adding: “Hear me finally.”
Mr. Mehta, who said that the lawyer has met with Kappan, argued that the defendant is not the party in the matter.
Mr. Sibal referred to the case of journalist Arnab Goswami, who was granted provisional bail by the higher court in an alleged complicity in a suicide case, and said that he would rely on that verdict as a law has been established in him .
“Every case is different,” the court observed, adding: “It shows us some precedent in which an association has moved the court in search of redress.”
“We want to hear the case in accordance with the law and the matter should have been heard in the higher court,” the court said and released the matter for hearing next week.
The state government told the court that it would file a rejoinder to the counter-affidavit filed by KUWJ in the matter.
Uttar Pradesh recently submitted an affidavit in the high court alleging that Mr. Kappan was going to Hathras under the “journalism garb” with a “very determined design” to create a caste division and disturb the situation of law and order. .
The state has alleged in its affidavit that Mr. Kappan is the secretary of the Popular Front of India (PFI) office and was wearing a “journalist’s cap” displaying an identity card from a Kerela-based newspaper that was closed in 2018.
In its counter-affidavit filed on the matter, KUWJ has urged the high court that a retired superior court judge conduct an independent investigation to determine the facts of Mr. Kappan’s alleged “illegal arrest and detention”.
The KUWJ has claimed that the Uttar Pradesh police have made an “absolutely false and incorrect statement” that Kappan is the secretary of the PFI office, as he only works as a journalist.
In its rejoinder affidavit, KUWJ has alleged that the state submitted a “misleading affidavit, misrepresenting the facts to justify his illegal and unlawful detention and malicious prosecution” of Kappan and there are no materials to support the allegations against him.
It is said that Mr. Kappan had tried to visit Hathras on 5 October in the performance of his journalistic duties and had intimidated his employer prior to his trip.
Mr. Kappan was arrested on 5 October while on his way to Hathras, the home of the young Dalit who died after being allegedly raped by four upper-caste men.
Police had said that they had arrested four people who allegedly had links to PFI in Mathura and identified those arrested as Siddique from Malappuram, Atiq-ur Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur.
The FIR has been filed under various provisions of the IPC and the Illicit Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against four individuals who have alleged ties to PFI.
PFI had been accused in the past of funding protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act across the country earlier this year.
Hathras has been in the news following the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman who was allegedly gang-raped on September 14, 2020 in a village in the district.
His nightly cremation by authorities, allegedly without parental consent, sparked widespread outrage.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
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