Supreme Court To Hear On Friday Siddique Kappan's Plea Against Allahabad HC Order Refusing Him Bail In Hathras Case

CJI NV Ramana agreed to hear the matter after an urgent mention by Advocate Haris Biran.

In the special leave petition filed through Advocate Pallavi Pratap, Kappan said that the intention of his visit was to discharge his professional duty of reporting on the infamous case of the Hathras rape/murder. However, he was taken into custody on the basis of "trumped up" charges.

Kappan has spent almost two years behind bars. He was arrested, along with other accused, by the UP police in October 2020 while they were proceeding to report the Hathras rape-murder crime.

In the order denying bail to Kappan, the High Court said he had "no work" at Hathras.

Before the top court, Kappan says his case raises seminal questions pertaining to the right to liberty, as well as the freedom of expression and speech vested in independent media under the aegis of the Constitution.

He argues that the High Court mechanically dismissed his bail application, without affording any cogent reasons.

"High Court has failed to take note of the fact that the FIR / charge sheet , ex facie does not make out a case for the invocation of Section 17 and Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967," the plea says.

Initially, Kappan was arrested under the apprehension of causing a breach of peace and was produced before a court of the sub-divisional magistrate which sent him to judicial custody.

Subsequently, he was booked under the UAPA alleging that he and his co-passengers were trying to incite communal riots and disrupt social harmony in the wake of the Hathras gangrape-murder case.

Kappan had moved the Court after a local court in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh had rejected his bail plea last year in July.

Yesterday, co-accused cab driver Mohammad Alam, was enlarged on bail by the High Court. It was observed in the bail order that "incriminating material" was recovered from Kappan's possession but, no such material was recovered from Alam.

Kappan denied allegations of carrying incriminating pamphlets or printed papers to Hathras.

He says that the prosecution has not provided any evidence that he received funds from a terrorist gang. "Sole funds available with the Petitioner is the income earned discharging his work as a professional journalist."

Even assuming that money was in fact received from PFI, it is contended that the PFI is not a terrorist gang/group.