A Mathura court dropped proceedings on charges related to apprehension of breach of peace against Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan and three others on Tuesday as the police failed to complete the inquiry against them within the prescribed period of six months, reported LiveLaw.
Kappan, Campus Front of India leaders Atiq-ur Rehman, Masood Ahmed, and a Delhi based cab driver Alam were arrested on October 5 when they were on their way to the Hathras in Uttar Pradesh after the gangrape-murder of a Dalit teenager.
“Police couldn’t provide evidence to substantiate charges of breach of peace within six months since the case began. The charges in this first case, on the basis of which the four had been detained in the first place, could not be proven. That could help in the other cases as well,” Madhuvan Dutt Chaturvedi, Defence lawyer of the four accused, told reporters.
They were arrested on the “apprehension of causing a breach of peace” but were later slapped with stringent charges of sedition and violation of anti-terror law UAPA and Information Technology Act.
Sub Divisional Magistrate of Mant, Ram Datt Ram, on Tuesday discharged them of the charges under Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc) sections 151(Arrest to prevent the commission of cognizable offences), 107(Security for keeping the peace in other cases) and 116 (Inquiry as to truth of information).
The other charges, including sedition and under UAPA, still stand.
The accused are in jail since October 7 last year. The police arrested the four accused and alleged that they had links with the PFI (Popular Front of India) and intended to stoke unrest in Hathras.
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Rushda Fathima Khan is the Staff Reporter for The Cognate.
