A local court in Mathura rejected the Uttar Pradesh Police’s plea to conduct further probe against Siddique Kappan, the Kerala-based freelance journalist who was arrested in October 2020 while on his way to cover the Hathras gang-rape case, Live Law reported.
In a reply opposing an application moved by the State for taking a further statement from him, Kappan stated that he is yet to receive a chargesheet even after the Solicitor General of India stated in the apex court that the same was submitted to all the accused before April 27.
Kappan had filed a plea urging the court to grant him default bail on medical grounds and due to a delay in receipt of the chargesheet. In April, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) moved the Supreme Court seeking Kappan’s transfer from Mathura to a New Delhi hospital due to his deteriorating health after testing positive for Covid-19. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also wrote to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, seeking transfer of Kappan from KM Medical College, Mathura.
Kappan’s latest plea also pointed out that though he had managed to obtain a copy of the chargesheet from the counsel of another accused, it had serious defects for which he had filed an application that is still pending.
Further, the plea stated that even after staying in custody for over nine months Kappan did not have an opportunity to defend himself while it is his right as an accused to get a clear, legible, translated copy of the chargesheet and other documents related to the case, free of cost.
The court has sought reports from the police regarding these issues on August 23.
The case against Kappan
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, allegedly without consent from the family, causing outrage.
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On October 5, Kappan and three others 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”. Kappan and other alleged PFI (Popular Front of India) members were booked under the UAPA and other charges.
On June 15, though Kappan and three others were discharged of the breach of peace charges that they were arrested under, Kappan was denied bail on July 6 by a local court in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. They have remained in jail as they continue to be booked under other non-bailable anti-terror laws.