On August 2, Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) rejected the bail plea submitted by alleged journalist and PFI member Siddique Kappan who was arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police in the ‘Hathras conspiracy’ case in October 2020. Single-Judge bench comprising Justice Krishan Pahal observed in the judgment that in the perusal of the documents and charge sheet, “prima facie reveal that the applicant has committed the offence”.
Notably, the Court observed that Kappan had no work at Hathras. Also, the co-accused accompanying him did not belong to the media fraternity. The Court said, “It has come up in the investigation that the applicant had no work at Hathras. The State machinery was at tenterhooks owing to the tension prevailing due to various types of information being viral across all forms of media, including the internet. The said sojourn of the applicant with co-accused persons who do not belong to media fraternity is a crucial circumstance going against him.”
The Court said that Kappan, in his defence, stated he went to Hathras owing to his professional duty as a journalist. However, pertaining to the charge sheet and the persons he was arrested with, his justification stood nullified. The order read, “The tainted money being used by the applicant and his colleagues cannot be ruled out.”
‘Accused collected funds to break the social harmony and incite violence
The Court noted that the prosecution informed the Court about the incriminating material recovered from Kappan and other accused, including Athikurrehman, Alam and Masood. The Police had recovered six smartphones, laptops and pamphlets that the accused were planning to use.
The prosecution said, “The said persons are said to have been collecting funds and running a website ‘Carrd.com’. It was also revealed that the said collected funds were used to break the social harmony and incite violence. The pamphlets read as ‘AM I NOT INDIAS DAUGHTER MADE WITH Carrd etc. It was also found that the incident of mob lynching, exodus of labourers and the Kashmir issues were also highlighted through the same website. The website also imparts training pertaining to concealing one’s identity during demonstrations and ways to incite violence. The website was found to be full of misinformation, thereby distorting true facts. There was another website operated by the laptop which had the heading ‘Justice For Hathras’.”
Chats between Kappan and PFI General Secretary
During the investigation, the Police found WhatsApp chats between Kappan and General Secretary of PFI Kamal KP. The order read, “[The chats] also revealed about the alleged workshop having been conducted by the applicant and other co-accused persons. The said workshop is stated to have been conducted to incite riots across the country by raking up issues of CAA and Babri Masjid demolition.”
Kappan was arrested by UP Police on October 5, 2020, when he was travelling to Hathras with his co-accused. He was booked under relevant sections of UAPA, IPC and IT Act. Earlier, the Mathura court had rejected his bail plea in 2021.
