Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan, arrested on terror charges while on his way to UP’s Hathras to report on a Dalit woman’s rape and murder two years ago, got bail recently in a money laundering case from the high court. He had already got bail in the terror case – filed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and other related laws – from the Supreme Court in September but remained in jail in Lucknow as he’d got no relief in a related case filed by the Enforcement Directorate in 2021. Earlier this month, a court in Lucknow had framed charges against him and six others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which meant that the trial could finally begin. The other accused are KA Rauf Sherif, Atikur Rahman, Masud Ahmad, Mohammad Alam, Abdul Razzak, and Ashraf Khadir.
The Uttar Pradesh Police arrested the four men on 6 October, 2020, near Mathura, while they were on their way to Hathras to report the rape and murder of a Dalit girl by four upper-caste Thakur men. It is a great tragedy that a journalist who was on reporting duty had to stay in jail for two years without any charges being probed. This is utter injustice. The UP Police made a selective arrest and followed them by making it hard for him to get out of jail. Kappan had to pay the price for trying to report the truth. However, what is saddening is that the majority of the people, including media persons, kept quiet all these days. Very few spoke out against the injustice meted out to Kappan. His family also suffered for no fault of theirs.