UP Police files 5,000-page charge-sheet against journalist Siddique Kappan
Police claimed that Kappan was arrested because he was on his way to Hathras, where a 19-year-old Dalit girl was gang-raped and killed, ‘to break the peace’ as part of a ‘conspiracy.
File image of Uttar Pradesh police personnel. AFP
Mathura: Eight people linked to the Popular Front of India, including student wing leader KA Rauf Sherif and Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan, were indicted on Saturday by the Uttar Pradesh Police Special Task Force in a court here by sedition, criminal conspiracy and financing of terrorism. activities and other crimes.
Five of the accused: Campus Front of India (CFI) National Secretary General Sherif, CFI National Treasurer Atikur Rahman, CFI Delhi General Secretary Masud Ahmed, Kappan, and Mohammed Alam, who is a member of CFI and of the PFI, were present at the Court of the Additional District Judge and Sessions Anil Kumar Pandey.
Two other defendants, Anshad Badruddin and Firoz Khan, attended the hearing via video conference.
“The STF has also filed an indictment against the accused Danish,” said district government attorney Shiv Ram Singh.
Defense attorney Madhuban Dutt said the 5,000-page indictment sheet has been filed against all eight defendants and they will consider moving to a higher court after doing so.
The defendants have been formally charged under sections 153 (A) of the Indian Penal Code (Promotion of enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 124 (A) (sedition), 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious sentiments …) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), according to the defense.
They have also been charged with articles 17 and 18 of the Illicit Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) related to fundraising for terrorist acts and various sections of the Information Technology Act.
The court has set the next hearing for May 1.
Kappan along with Rahman, Masud Ahmed, and Alam was arrested in October last year while on their way to Hathras, where a 19-year-old Dalit woman had been gang-raped and killed.
The FIR against him claimed that they were going to Hathras with the intention of “breaking the peace” as part of a “conspiracy”.
The Enforcement Directorate had filed its first charge sheet against PFI members on money laundering charges in February, alleging that they wanted to “incite communal disturbances and spread terror” after the Hathras gang rape case.
The district attorney said Anshad Badruddin and Firoz Khan are being held in Lucknow jail after being arrested for allegedly conspiring to carry out a series of explosions in Lucknow and other parts of Uttar Pradesh.
The defense attorney stated that the defendants have been falsely implicated in the case.
It alleged that the defendants who were in Mathura prison were denied food for 24 hours.
“No food was served to them after 5 pm on Friday until 4:30 pm on Saturday while they were in court,” he said, adding that Kappan has diabetes and Rahman is a heart patient.
As they were taken out of court, some of the defendants shouted that the charges against them were false.
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