The Supreme Court of India granted bail to journalist Siddique Kappan after two years of staying in police cells.
He was arrested in October 2020 while on his way to Hathras to cover sexual assault story in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, where a Dalit woman allegedly died after being gang-raped.
A bench led by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit issued the bail order while hearing Kappan’s appeal against an Allahabad high court order denying him bail.
The Supreme Court, on the other hand, ordered Kappan to stay in Delhi for the next six weeks following his release from a prison in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
The court imposed conditions on him, including the requirement that he surrender his passport and report to the police station every Monday.
Siddique Kappan was arrested in accordance with the strict anti-terrorism law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The Uttar Pradesh government had previously told the Supreme Court that Kappan was involved in a larger conspiracy to “incite religious discord and spread terror.”
Senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, told the Supreme Court that this was also a case for invoking Article 124A of the Constitution because the accused were inciting discontent by raping a girl.
