Uttar Pradesh Police has filed a 5,000-page charge sheet against Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan, who was arrested under the draconian UAPA in Hathras, in October last year while he was travelling from Delhi to cover the story of the brutal gang-rape and murder of a Dalit woman by upper-caste Hindu men.
Atiq-ur-Rehman, Masood Ahmad and cab driver Alam, who was arrested with Kappan last year, and Campus Front of India’s National General Secretary Rauf Sharif, Mohammad Danish, Feroz Khan, and Asad Badruddin has also been framed in the same charge sheet filed by the Uttar Pradesh’s Special Task Force (STF).
Along with UAPA, they are slapped with IT Act and other serious charges for alleged conspiracy for inciting communal clashes.
“We have not yet received a copy of the charge sheet. It’s about 5,000 pages. Once we officially get a copy, we will study it and decide our course of action,” Kappan’s lawyer Madhuvan Dutt Chaturvedi told reporters outside the court in Mathura.
The Mathura Additional District Judge and Sessions have adjourned the case for the next hearing till May 1.
Kappan is a freelance journalist who has been extensively covering politics, crime, and current affairs for several Kerala based news outlets including Azhimukham, Thejas Daily and Thalsamayam Midday Daily. He is also the secretary of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists.
Many international media unions, opposition leaders, and human rights organizations have been constantly raising concerns against the arrest of Kappan and have demanded his immediate release.
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Ghazala Ahmad is the Delhi Correspondent for The Cognate.
