Siddique Kappan: Indian journalist released from jail after two years

Sidhique Kappan Raihana Sidhique

Indian journalist Siddique Kappan has been launched from prison a lot more than two years after his arrest while travelling to report on an claimed rape.

He or she was arrested in October 2020 within Uttar Pradesh condition, where a young Dalit female had died after the girl was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men.

The case acquired sparked protests within India.

Police accused Mr Kappan of conspiring to create regulation and order difficulty and incite violence, which he refused.

Three guys who were in the vehicle with him that will day were falsely accused of similar accidents.

Mr Kappan’s arrest was ruined by press freedom activists, who fearfulness India is becoming increasingly unsafe for journalists . Last year, the country slipped eight places plus was ranked a hundred and fifty on the 180-country World Press Freedom Catalog, compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

“The violence against journalists, the politically partisan press and the concentration associated with media ownership most demonstrate that push freedom is in turmoil in “the planet’s largest democracy, ” the report said .

Mr Kappan, who have had two instances against him, was given bail in one simply by India’s Supreme Courtroom in September. The Allahabad high court granted him bail in the second situation in December.

But it had taken more than a month and then for him to become released due to delays.

Upon Thursday, after Mr Kappan walked out of the prison in Lucknow city, he mentioned he would continue to fight the charges towards him.

“I will also continue to perform journalism. I will not sit idle… After all, I am a journalist – where can I run? ” he or she told BBC Hindi’s Anant Zanane.

Mr Kappan, who may be from Kerala state, was working from Malayalam-language news portal Azhimukham when this individual was arrested in the way to Hathras region in Uttar Pradesh.

After their arrest, he falsely accused the police of mentally and physically torturing him. His family also supposed that authorities did not give him access to their medicines for diabetes.

The police refused the allegations.

They have claimed that will Mr Kappan great companions were people of the Popular Front of India (PFI), a Kerala-based sweeping Muslim group that was prohibited last year for alleged links with terror groups. The PFI, Mister Kappan’s lawyer plus a Kerala-based journalist partnership he belonged to have got denied this.

Mr Kappan’s lawyer told the BBC in 2021 that his client was initially charged with “minor bailable offences”.

But two days later, the police added additional charges including sedition and provisions under a stringent anti-terror law which critics state makes it almost impossible to obtain bail.

In February 2021, the Adjustment Directorate, which investigates financial crimes, submitted another case towards him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Take action. The central company said that Mr Kappan received money through PFI to “incite riots”, a charge he denied.

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