Hathras: Journalists’ Bodies Demand Release of Scribe Siddique Kappan

Siddique Kappan, a Kerala-based journalist who had been arrested along with three others by the Uttar Pradesh police on their way to Hathras on Monday, have been booked under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and under sedition charges. Kappan has been writing for several Malayalam media platforms, including Azhimukham.

On Wednesday, all four were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 124A (sedition), 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and acting prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief), according to the FIR.

The four were held when they were on their way to Hathras were a Dalit woman had died after being gang-raped by four dominant-caste Thakur youth. On Tuesday, they were remanded to 14 days of judicial custody by a local court in Mathura.

The Press Association of India and the Indian Women Press Corps on Wednesday described the arrest as the Uttar Pradesh government’s attempt to “silence” the media and demanded his immediate release.

On Monday, the UP Police said the four people had links with the Popular Front of India and its affiliate in Mathura. “The UP government claims that the journalist has links with some groups but has not offered any proof in this regard,” the Indian Women Press Corps (IWPC) and the Press Association said in a statement.

Condemning the arrest of Kappan, IWPC pointed out that he was on his way to Hathras to report on the story. His mobile phone and laptop were seized by the police, the statement said.

The state government had banned the entry of the media in Hathras for two days, denying journalists their right to report the story, thereby violating the right of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution, the IWPC and Press Association said. The Press Association is a media body of accredited journalists while the IWPC is an association of women journalists.

Reacting to Kappan’s arrest, the Delhi unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath seeking his release, saying he was going to Hathras only to perform his duty as a reporter.

Read more: A Familiar Pattern of Harassment of Journalists in Uttar Pradesh

Terming Kappan’s arrest “illegal and unconstitutional”, the KUWJ also filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking his immediate production before the court and release from the “illegal detention”.

Kappan is also the KUWJ's secretary and was proceeding to Hathras only to do perform his duty as a reporter, KUWJ's Delhi unit president, Miji Jose, told the chief minister in his letter, urging him to order his release.

“We understand that he was taken into custody by Uttar Pradesh police from Hathras toll plaza. Our efforts and the efforts by some advocates based in Delhi to contact him were not successful,” KUWJ said.

“Mr. Kappan was trying to do his duty as a reporter. We urge you to get him released at the earliest,” KUWJ urged the UP chief minister.

Urging the immediate release of Kappan, the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) reminded that journalist Prashant Kanojia, who was arrested from Delhi by the UP police on August 18, 2020 for a tweet, is still in jail.

“We deplore the tendency to arrest journalists on dubious grounds. We believe that the arrests of journalists for their views and reportage is a serious infringement of the freedom of the press. We demand the immediate release of all journalists arrested during the lockdown on various pretexts ranging from a tweet to a video report,” the DUJ said in a press statement.

On October 2, Asad Rizvi, a Lucknow-based freelance journalist, had also been attacked by the UP police. Rizvi was reporting how the UP police had sealed central protest sites in Lucknow, including the Gandhi statue, after the brutal killing in Hathras. After her death on September 29, widespread protests have broken out across UP which the state machinery has been trying hard to suppress. According to Rizvi, the police confiscated his memory card which had footage of the violence.

According to a report by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in April this year, “...press freedom violations have long taken place in the state, journalists told CPJ that since the Bharatiya Janata Party maintained its parliamentary majority in Uttar Pradesh during India’s May, 2019, general election, there has been a surge in the number of such incidents in India’s most populous state. During a trip to Uttar Pradesh in late February and early March, journalists told CPJ that they felt under increased threat of criminal charges and physical assault. Such fear could lead to self-censorship.”

In the report, Amitabh Bhattarcharya, a freelance journalist and former bureau chief of English daily Northern India Patrika, remarked that the BJP’s overwhelming win in the state in the May election had emboldened Adityanath’s government.

“It feels it can do anything with impunity, just because it has won two elections in a row,” Bhattarcharya said.

As per Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) report in July this year, about 55 journalists were targeted for doing their jobs during the COVID-19 lockdown. Of these, Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 11 journalists being targeted. However, it is important to note that cases of attacks against journalists have been reported after July as well, and that the number has gone up since the report came out.

Read More: UP: Attacks on Journalists Continue, Scribe Vikram Joshi Succumbs to Bullet Injury

With inputs from PTI