Siddique Kappan
Key points
- Siddique Kappan was arrested by Uttar Pradesh police last October while on his way to Hathras.
- Police have alleged that he was visiting the village to fuel caste and communal differences.
- The journalist has been charged under the UAPA antiterrorist law or the Illegal Activities (Prevention) Law
New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh police have filed a 5,000-page charge sheet against Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan and seven others.
Kappan was arrested in October last year while traveling from Delhi to Hathras to report on the gang rape case that had sparked outrage across the country.
He has been charged with conspiracy to create community tension in the region. Besides Kappan, other defendants by the UP STF are the Popular Front of India (PFI) members Atiqur Rahman, Masood Ahmed, Rauf Sharif, Ansad Badruddin and Firoz Khan.
Charge sheet filed in Mathura Additional District Judges Court on Saturday
However, Kappan’s lawyers have maintained that he was only doing his job as a journalist and was going to report on the case involving a 19-year-old Dalit girl.
Kappan has been charged under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity) and 295A (outrageous sentiments) of the IPC, the strict UAPA, and relevant sections of the TI Act.
The charge sheet was filed in Mathura Additional District Judges Court on Saturday.
In February this year, Attorney General Tushar Mehta, representing the UP government, claimed that money is being collected under his name as if he were some kind of martyr.
Kappan is the PFI office secretary: UP govt
“Big posters of him are being put up all over the city, his wife is collecting money as if he has done a service for the state and is projecting him as a martyr. He is not a journalist. Money is being collected and emotions are stirred,” he quoted Mehta saying.
Last year in October, Kappan’s wife met with the leader of Congress, Rahul Gandhi, and presented a memorandum to the Wayanad deputy.
Speaking to the media after meeting Gandhi, she said she is concerned that her husband will be booked on more charges.
The UP government has already informed the Supreme Court that Kappan is the secretary of the PFI office and was using the cover of a journalist showing the identity card of a Kerala-based newspaper called Tejas that closed in 2018.
