The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to journalist Siddique Kappan, arrested by Uttar Pradesh on his way to report the Hathras gangrape and murder case in 2020, after nearly two years.
Kappan was arrested on October 5, 2020, along with three other men while they were travelling to Hathras where a Dalit woman was gang-raped and killed by four upper-caste men. He was booked under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and sedition charges for an alleged conspiracy case.
A Top Court bench comprising Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat on Friday asked the journalist to stay in Delhi for the next six weeks and mark his presence at a local police station. After that, he can go back to Kerala but will have to keep reporting to the police.
He had moved to the Apex Court after the Allahabad High Court had denied him bail in August, saying that he had no work in Hathras.
The Supreme Court was not persuaded by the State of Uttar Pradesh’s claim that the materials purportedly taken from journalist Siddique Kappan were of a provocative nature when hearing his bail request.
The bench, led by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, stated that everyone has the right to free expression and questioned the UP Government as to whether or not spreading the notion that a victim deserves justice for the victim constituted a crime in the eyes of the law after noting that the documents in question were pamphlets calling for protests to demand justice for Hathras victim.
