Siddique Kappan, the Kerala-based freelance journalist who was arrested in October 2020 while covering the gang-rape case in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, and three others, were discharged on Tuesday by a local court in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh of the breach of peace charges they were arrested under, The Indian Express reported.
However, they remain booked under other non-bailable anti-terror laws and will hence stay in jail.
As the limitation of the proceedings under section 116 (6) CrPC expired, the sub-divisional magistrate dropped the proceedings against Kappan, Campus Front of India (the students’ wing of the Popular Front of India) National Treasurer Atiqur Rahman, CFI member Mohammed Alam, and General Secretary of Delhi CFI Masood Ahmed.
On September 14, 2020, a Dalit girl was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men in Hathras. She succumbed to her injuries on September 29, 2020 in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital and was hurriedly cremated by the Uttar Pradesh Police in the dead of the night the next day near her village. The rushed manner of the victim’s last rites, which her family alleged was done without their consent, caught the nation’s attention. The CBI filed a 2,000-page charge sheet against the four accused in the rape case.
On October 5, Kappan, Rahman, Ahmed and Alam were arrested by the UP Police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act while on their way to cover the Hathras case. The FIR filed against them claimed that they intended “to breach peace” in Hathras as a part of a “conspiracy”.
In the 5,000-page chargesheet filed by the UP Police on April 3, 2021, Kappan and seven others were booked under sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 124(A) (sedition), 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 17 and 18 of the UAPA related to raising funds for terror acts and several other sections of the IT Act. The four others include the National General Secretary of CFI KA Rauf Sherif, Anshad Badruddin, and Firoz Khan.
During their judicial custody, the court hearing the breach of peace case sent them a notice under section 111 of CrPC relating to the order of the magistrate against any individual likely to commit a breach of peace.
Afterwards, a notice was sent to them in jail asking why they should not be asked to submit a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each, along with sureties from two guarantors for the same amount.
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As per Section 116 (6) of CrPC, the inquiry is to be completed within a six-month period from the date of its commencement. On failure of this, the proceedings under this section are terminated on the expiry of the period unless for special reasons that have to be recorded in writing, said the lawyer to The Indian Express.
In a video that went viral on social media on Wednesday, Kappan addressed the media for the first time since his arrest and said that though he still has full faith in the Constitution of India, this is a fake case and that justice has been “delayed”.
Recently, Kappan moved the Mathura District Court on June 2 applying for regular bail after the Supreme Court granted him the liberty to do so.