WEB DESK
The Press Club of India and other media organisations have demanded immediate release of Kerala journalist arrested on way to Hathras. The journalist Siddique Kappan, secretary of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) who writes for Malayalam news websites like azhimukham.com. has been arrested by UP police under UAPA, the anti terror law.
The UAPA is primarily an anti-terror law – aimed at “more effective prevention of certain unlawful activities of individuals and associations and for dealing with terrorist activities”.
PCI released a statement saying that Kappan should be “released without delay”. “It is our apprehension that the Yogi Adityanath government, in line with its clearly stated conspiracy theory as explanation for the tragic Hathras incident, will employ diversionary tactics to take the focus away from the many suspicious, possibly criminal actions of its police and administration and the virtual silence of the political leadership on the Hathras tragedy,” it said.
The Delhi unit of KUWJ has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Kappan’s detention. “We have filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court against the illegal detention of a journalist who was doing his job… The Constitution of our country protects the freedom of press. Kappan’s arrest is a breach of Constitutional values,” the Delhi unit of the Union said.
The letter to the UP CM, signed by KUWJ president Miji Jose, said, “He is the secretary of KUWJ… and had gone to Hathras Monday morning to cover the present situation in the area… We understand that he was taken into police custody by UP Police from Hathras toll plaza. Our efforts and the efforts by some advocates based in Delhi to contact him were not successful.”
While Kappan hails from Kerala and has been living in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area for years, Rahman is from Muzaffarnagar, Ahmed from Bahraich, and Alam from Rampur.
They were detained by Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday from a toll plaza in Mathura while they were on their way to Hathras to meet the kin of the deceased Dalit woman who was brutally assaulted and allegedly gangraped by four upper-caste men last month.
“During a check at Maant toll plaza on Monday morning, we found the movement of a Swift Dzire car suspicious. We questioned the four persons and they were taken into preventive arrest under CrPC Section 151. It appears that they were heading towards Hathras. While no FIR has been filed against them, they said they are related to PFI and CFI during questioning,” Gaurav Grover, SSP Mathura, told The Indian Express.