New Delhi, Sep 09: The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Kerala-based journalist Siddique Kappan, arrested in October 2020 while on his way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh where a Dalit woman had died after allegedly being gang-raped.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit directed Kappan to remain in Delhi for the next six weeks after the release from an Uttar Pradesh prison.
The bench imposed certain conditions on him including asking him to surrender his passport and report to the police station on every Monday.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had earlier this month rejected the bail application of Kappan, who was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the alleged Hathras conspiracy case.
The journalist's plea has claimed the high court has failed to take note of the fact that the FIR or the charge sheet "ex-facie" does not make out a case for the invocation of sections 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The FIR has been filed under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the UAPA against four people having alleged links with the Popular Front of India (PFI).
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The PFI had been accused in the past of funding protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act across the country and there have been calls to proscribe it.
The sexual assault victim died at a Delhi hospital a fortnight after her alleged rape by four men from her village on September 14, 2020.
She was cremated in the middle of the night in her village.
Her family members had claimed the cremation took place without their consent and that they were not allowed to bring home the body one last time.