This was the first time an application for his release from jail was move
Zafar Aafaq | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — A court in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of incarcerated journalist Siddique Kappan on the grounds that the bail application of the other three accused in the case already stands cancelled, his lawyer Wills Mathew told Carion India.
While turning down his bail application, the court order further said that Kappan possessed literature of banned organisation Student Islamic Movement of India and that he was in touch with the leaders of SIMI and that his bank account received two illegal transaction of Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000.
Mathew said this was the first time that they had moved an application for release of Kappan from jail.
Kappan was arrested along with three members of Campus Front of India, a student organisation, in October last year when they were on way to Hathras to report about the gang rape and murder of a Dalit woman.
The police accused them of hatching a conspiracy to defame the UP government which was facing severe criticism over the shocking gang rape and murder of the Dalit woman. The police slapped serious charges under the draconian anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, against Kappan and three others.
On May 16, the court dropped charges related to apprehension of breach of peace against Kappan and his three associates. The court took the decision because police failed to complete the inquiry against them within the prescribed period of six months.
Two days later his mother, Khadeeja Kutty, passed away after illness. She was 90.
International media watchdogs and local press bodies have been urging the government to drop charges against Kappan and free him from jail.
