Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan to walk out of jail soon as Lucknow court signs release order

A month after the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Kerala journalist Journalist Siddique Kappan, a sessions court in Lucknow Wednesday signed orders to release him on bail, Live Law reported. Kappan is likely to walk out of jail by Thursday.

More than two years after he was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police while heading to the Hathras home of a young Dalit woman who died after an alleged gangrape, Kappan was granted bail on December 24, 2022 by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate.

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While police said Kappan was part of a conspiracy to disrupt peace in Hathras, his lawyers said he was going to report on the gangrape incident.

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A delay in surety verification was the main barrier stalling Kappan’s release, Mohamed Dhanish, Kappan’s lawyer had told Indian Express.

Kappan had been granted bail by the Supreme Court on September 9 last year in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case after being booked by the Uttar Pradesh Police for alleged links with the radical Popular Front of India — the Centre banned the PFI and its affiliates on September 28.