Kappan…still in jail!

More delay in the release of journalist Siddique Kappan!

The bail application in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case came up today and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed its response to the bail application and sought an adjournment as Additional Solicitor General SV Raju was to appear in the matter.

The case is now posted to Sept 23, 2022. The discharge application, which was filed earlier, will also be heard on the same day.

Kappan, charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, had been granted bail by the Supreme Court on September 9, 2022. He was arrested on Oct 5, 2020, when he was travelling to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh to cover the heinous gang-rape and murder of a young dalit woman. Granting bail, the Chief Justice of India UU Lalit had said, “Every person has the right to free expression. He is trying to show that victim needs justice and raise a common voice. Is that a crime in eyes of law?“

Adv Khalid, who is representing Kappan in the matter, said that the ED response to the bail application in the PMLA case was a reiteration of its complaint that the journalist was travelling with Atiq-ur-Rehman and Masood Ahmed, members of the Campus Front of India (CFI), which is the student wing of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and that they had recieved funds from the PFI for fomenting terror. Kappan’s name featured in the proposed minutes of a meeting held to organise a seminar on minority rights held in 2015. Nowhere can the ED show any money trail or any evidence of money that was received by Kappan, said Adv Khalid.