Alam, Siddique and Hathras
‘Had There Been a Non-Muslim With Us, We Would Not Have Been Arrested’
Also charged with terrorism and sedition, Alam, the taxi driver who took Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan to Hathras last year, is now in legal limbo.
‘Had There Been a Non-Muslim With Us, We Would Not Have Been Arrested’
Tarushi Aswani
COMMUNALISM GOVERNMENT LAW
21/JUN/2021
New Delhi: For the last nine months, Bushra has been cursing herself every day for not stopping her husband Alam from going to work on October 5, 2020.
That day, Alam, a cab driver with the ride-share company Ola, had been on duty in Greater Noida in the early hours of the morning. By 8 am, he had completed two rides. After that, Bushra and the rest of Alam’s family had heard nothing from him or about him for the rest of the day, until a news telecast that night named him as one of four people arrested at Maant, Uttar Pradesh.
“They were telling all kinds of lies on the news. They called him a terrorist, a conspirer and what not,” said Bushra.
Alam, it turned out, had logged out of the Ola system after 8 am to pick up a third ride that would earn him a little more money. The people he had picked up were Siddique Kappan, a journalist from Kerala, and Atiqur Rehman and Masood, two activists of the Campus Front of India, a Muslim students’ organisation. The three men had been headed to Hathras village in Uttar Pradesh where Kappan had planned to report on the case of a Dalit woman who had allegedly been gang-raped and murdered by Thakur caste men.
But Alam’s car had been stopped near the Mathura Toll Plaza by the Uttar Pradesh police and everyone in the vehicle, including Alam, had been arrested and charged under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for breaching public peace and tranquility. Two days later, he and his three passengers had been charged with two offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as well as several offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act (IT Act) and jailed. And ever since then, Alam, Bushra and their family have lived in legal limbo.
‘Law to terrorise’
Every opportunity for Alam’s release since October 5, 2020, has been stymied by yet another chargesheet filed by the UP Police. The case has also been transferred between several police departments, leading to a series of investigative delays.
On October 7 last year, two days after they had been arrested under the CrPC, Alam and his passengers were about to be released by the sub-district magistrate at Maant when the police charged them with offences under the UAPA, IPC and ITA.
The case was then transferred from the Maant police to the crime branch, after which, on October 23, 2020, it was transferred again to the special task force (STF) in Lucknow. Soon after, the STF filed an application to transfer the case to the additional district and sessions judge of Mathura.
Alam. Photo: Special arrangement
On April 3 this year, when 180 days had passed since their incarceration and no evidence had been found against them in that time, the four men were entitled to bail by default. But that very day, the police filed another chargesheet against them before the sessions court. This document charged eight Muslim men, including Alam, Kappan, Rehman and Masood, with the intent to incite caste-based riots between the Dalit and Thakur communities after the gang-rape case in Hathras, with the help of funding from the Popular Front of India (PFI, an Islamist political organisation that has been accused by politicians and police officers of involvement in extremism, even though no government at the Centre or state has so far sought to legally ban it.).
Alam’s advocate, Saifan Sheikh, alleges that the intention of the STF assigned to the case and the UP government is to keep all the accused behind bars to conceal the reality of the situation in Hathras and silence voices that accuse the Yogi Adityanath government of failing to tackle the issue.
“Even the Central Bureau of Investigation confirmed that the victim was raped and murdered and since then there has just been silence on the matter. They [the police] have deliberately added the name of the PFI to the chargesheet to overshadow the rape incident,” said Sheikh.
The chargesheet (SC 600/2021) names four men other than Alam, Kappan, Rehman and Masood in the case. These include Alam’s brother-in-law Danish, who had referred Alam to Rehman on October 5, 2020 when he, Kappan and Masood were looking for a vehicle to take them to Hathras, as well as K.A. Rauf Sherif, the national general secretary of the CFI, and two other CFI activists. The document runs to more 5,000 pages and records the accounts of 54 witnesses, of whom 80% are from the police.
Sheikh claimed that while the prosecution is duty bound to provide a copy of the chargesheet to all the accused and their counsel, none of the accused were provided with the chargesheet in this case. This, he said, is a curtailment of their legal rights and a deliberate measure undertaken to keep them behind bars for as long as possible.
Also read: Article 32: Rights for All or For a Favoured Few?
Currently, all the accused except Danish have been lodged in various Uttar Pradesh jails. Danish might also have been jailed had he not filed a petition stating that the STF had not only named him as an accused but had also called him to appear as a witness in the case.
According to Alam’s counsel Madhuvan Dutt Chaturvedi, while the accused have been charged under the UAPA and with sedition, no evidence suggesting their involvement in any terrorist activity has been found during the investigation.
“The law to prevent terrorism is being used as a law to terrorise people,” Chaturvedi told The Wire. He added that none of accused has committed any activity that threatens the Government of India or the structure of the Constitution of India.
A bail application filed by Alam’s counsel had been rejected on November 13, 2020. On November 7, 2020, the counsel had also filed a habeas corpus writ petition, which is pending for argument and now has been listed for a hearing on July 26. On June 16, the Mathura court dropped three bailable charges against Alam, Kappan, Rehman and Masood. The charges under the CrPC and the IPC were dropped on April 3, when the police failed to complete their probe within the prescribed period of six months. However the UAPA and sedition charges remain.
‘We are not equal’
Since Alam’s arrest, Bushra has been shuttling between her in-laws’ home and her parents’ house, dependent on them and her siblings for financial security. In many ways, she has lost agency over her life.
“Drivery karna kab se gunaah hai? Yaan Muslims ki drivery karna gunaah hai (Since when has driving been a crime? Or is it that driving Muslims is a crime)?” she asked. Formally educated only up to class 8, Bushra has been learning over the last nine months that the very existence of Muslims seems to be a crime.
Aamir, Alam’s brother-in-law, perceives Alam’s arrest as a casualty of the current political and religious climate in Uttar Pradesh. “In this kind of atmosphere, it is very easy to jail anyone,” he said.
He also feels that it is difficult for Muslims to hold institutions accountable for their ills. “Muslims have nowhere to go, no one to fall back on. Even though we are citizens of the country, we are not equal,” he said.
Aamir has had several conversations with Alam over the phone, mostly on the possibility of Alam being freed from jail, he told The Wire. Alam understands the larger scheme of things that frame him for his mere existence as a Muslim, Aamir said. But Alam has also understood something more dangerous.
Aamir quoted Alam as saying: “Sab politics hai, aur isme in policewaale bhi majboor hain (The case is all about politics and even the police are helpless).”
Alam also once suggested to Aamir: “Shayed koi ghair Muslim saath hota toh hum bach jaate (Had there been a non-Muslim with us, we wouldn’t have been arrested).”
Accused of being associated with an organisation that he had never heard of before, only thick chargesheets have taught Alam what PFI stands for.
According to Aamir, Alam’s arrest has changed him. Once a confident, friendly man, Alam has become scared, cynical and distrustful. Having been incarcerated merely for picking up a ride to earn a little extra money, Alam is scared to return to his profession as a driver ever again.
Also read: Muslim Victim’s Family Challenges ‘No Communal Angle’ Claim by UP Police
Alam hails from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier a Gramin Seva rickshaw driver, he had bought his car in partnership with another relative in late September, 2020, and had only been driving for Ola for 10 days before he was arrested.
His parents wait desperately for the five-minute phone calls that jails allow their prisoners to make five or six times a week. During those five minutes, they say, they almost glue the phone to their ears to absorb as much of Alam as they can. The tone of his voice, they say, has dulled into deeper and deeper pessimism with every phone call. How long, they wonder, will they survive without seeing their son?
A few days ago, there was some hope. Bushra smiled widely after nine whole months. “The release of Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha has given me hope. Even though my husband has been charged with terrorism, I’m hopeful. All those innocent people who have been caged by the UAPA, I identify with their pain,” she said.
But her smile vanished a day later when the vacation bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi high court’s order releasing Natasha, Devangana and Asif could not have precedent value.With loans for legal fees, no money to travel to Mathura to see Alam and the everyday reality of their lived experiences as Muslims in Yogi Adityanath’s UP, Bushra and her in-laws can do little but continue to learn the politics of religion the hard way.Tarushi Aswani is a freelance journalist based in Delhi. She tweets at @tarushi_aswani.
Hathras ‘conspiracy’ case: Mathura court rejects Kappan’s bail petition
The court has already rejected the bail pleas of the three arrested with the journalist on October 4 at the district’s Maath toll plaza.
By: Express News Service | Lucknow |
July 7, 2021 8:05:54 am
Siddique Kappan, Siddique Kappan news, Siddique Kappan shifted, Siddique Kappan AIIMS, AIIMS Delhi, india news, indian express
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Journalist Siddique Kappan.
A court in Mathura on Tuesday rejected the bail application of journalist Siddique Kappan who was arrested along with three others last October while they were on their way to Hathras to meet the family of a 19-year-old Dalit woman murdered and allegedly gang-raped.
The four were charged with a conspiracy to create a disturbance. Kappan, Atiq-ur-Rahman, Masood Ahmed and Alam are in Mathura jail at present. Kappan had filed the application last month.
“Additional District and Session Judge, Mathura, Anil Kumar Pandey rejected the bail application of Kappan after hearing arguments from both sides,” said Mathura district government counsel Shivram Singh.
The court has already rejected the bail pleas of the three arrested with the journalist on October 4 at the district’s Maath toll plaza. The police recovered six cellphones and a laptop from them. The following day, the police lodged a case against them on various charges, including sedition, and even invoked the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
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The police later booked four more people in the case. In April, they filed a chargesheet against all the eight accused.
Arrested on way to Hathras: Driver among 4 booked for sedition, family says he did not know the others
Trying to ascertain how the four know each other: Mathura SSP
Written by Amil Bhatnagar | Lucknow |
Updated: October 12, 2020 5:09:17 am
UP govt on Siddique Kappan: Had India’s daughter pamphlet, riot plan
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Siddique Kappan (with cap), secretary of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists, and three others who were held with him were produced before a court in Mathura. (PTI)
One of the four people against whom UP police have invoked Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and sedition charges is a cab driver who was on duty in Greater Noida till Monday morning before being arrested in Mathura hours later.
Alam (30), a resident of Delhi’s Sunder Nagri was arrested on Monday along with journalist Siddique Kappan and Campus Front of India (CFI) office bearers Atiqur Rahman and Masood.
Police have stated in the FIR that the four had connections with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and were allegedly “collecting funds” for creating large-scale “unrest” in the wake of Hathras gangrape incident.
The Indian Express accessed Alam’s driver profile registered with cab aggregator Ola. As per records, Alam had completed a booking in Greater Noida’s Knowledge Park 3 at 7.25 am on Monday after logging in at 6.01 am. The records further showed that he was on duty between October 1 and October 5, on which day he was arrested. Except on October 2, Alam clocked in more than 5 hours average of duty in the five days before he was arrested. On Monday, he had logged out of the system at 8.10 am, records show.
An Ola spokesperson confirmed to The Indian Express that Alam was attached to the platform but said the ride to Hathras was not booked through its app.
“The four accused were arrested while they were on their way to Hathras. They have not given us much information. We are trying to ascertain how the four accused know each other. Every other aspect is also a matter of investigation and further light can only be thrown once facts have been gathered,” said SSP Mathura Dr Gaurav Grover, when asked about Alam.
Alam hails from Rampur and had shifted to Delhi more than 10 years ago. While in Rampur, he worked as an embroidery craftsman in a local market. In the capital, he started working as a driver. His family members say he started driving a cab registered with Ola and owned by a relative, Anis, merely a week before he was arrested.
“His (Alam) only fault was to ferry them to Hathras. He did not know them previously. In fact, he was wearing his driver’s uniform when he was arrested. If I give a lift to a policeman, does that make one a policeman? Similarly if someone is guilty of something, he wouldn’t have known,” said Bushra (27), Alam’s wife.
According to Alam’s family, he would leave early in the morning to clock in extra hours for extra income. Before he was arrested, Alam had called Bushra, stating that he had reached Greater Noida; after that his phone remained unreachable. “He was not aware of the details of the Hathras incident. Why would he be on duty all day if he had to be involved in some conspiracy?” asked Bushra.
“We will move a bail application in the next two days. He is a driver and has done nothing. He was just ferrying them to Hathras. We will present his driver records. We will try our best to get Alam some relief from the court,” said Sheik Moulali Basha, Alam’s lawyer.
A cab driver from India’s capital who went to jail because he is Muslim
RUSHDA FATHIMA KHAN
Mohammad Alam
“Don’t worry, everything will be fine soon”, Alam’s wife Bushra said as she walked hurriedly alongside him while he was being taken by the police to be produced in court in December last year. Nine months after his arrest, the 30-year-old cab driver is still in jail.
Mohammad Alam was arrested in October 2020 along with three others- journalist Siddique Kappan, Campus Front of India (CFI) office-bearers Atiqur Rahman and Masood Ahmad while they were on their way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh to report on the rape and killing of a Dalit woman which had triggered nationwide outrage and visit the family members of deceased.
Alam was ferrying them to the location.
Last week, a Mathura court dropped charges against them relating to apprehensions of breach of peace while stating that the police failed to complete the inquiry against them within the prescribed period of six months.
However, all of them remain in jail due to charges under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
“He will be released whenever Allah wills,” Alam’s wife Bushra told Maktoob, adding that the lawyers have been trying their best. “He has not committed any crime. I am hopeful he will be back, but I don’t know how long it will take. Only Allah knows” she said.
‘We are being targetted only because we are Muslim’
According to his family, Alam did not know the other accused previously. “On October 5, Atiqur Rahman called Alam asking him to ferry them to Hathras, my husband did not know him then,” Bushra said.
“He knew about the Hathras gangrape incident as it was making headlines then. But he did not know why the passengers wanted to visit Hathras,” she added.
Alam’s arrest came as a shock to his family. “It was a normal day. He had completed a few rounds in the morning, as usual. He would usually call me around lunchtime and ask if I had eaten but that day he didn’t call. I kept trying but couldn’t reach him,” Bushra recounted.
According to her, journalist Siddique Kappan had told the police that they would return back if the police didn’t want them to visit Hathras. “They were willing to return, but the officials still took them for interrogation. Why would they do this when they didn’t mind going back?” she asked, adding, “we are being targetted only because we are Muslim.”
While Alam and the three others were on their way to Hathras, they were arrested by the UP Police and have remained in jail since October 7 last year.
“We talk every day for 2-5 min,” Bushra said. “Calls are usually recorded. He doesn’t complain or say anything much about the jail conditions. Of course, he’s in a bad state, it’s a jail.”
Bushra and Alam have been married for about a year and a half. “We had many plans for the future. Things had started to go well for us. He had recently got a cab and had started working for Ola. He would leave early and come back home around 10pm, after which we would talk for a while,” Bushra resentfully recounted.
She now lives with her parents and siblings, dependent on them for financial security. “I visit my in-laws and sometimes they visit me. We are all well. But there are financial issues due to the lockdown”, she said.
Alam hails from Rampur and had shifted to Delhi more than 10 years ago. While in Rampur, he worked as an embroidery craftsman in a local market. In the capital, he started working as a driver for the past 8 years. Anis, his relative, had recently bought him a cab so that it would make his profession easier if he had his own vehicle. However, days later, Alam was arrested.
‘Deliberate measure to keep them behind bars’
On October 7 last year, two days after they had been arrested under the CrPC, Alam and his passengers were about to be released by the sub-district magistrate at Maant. Hours later, the police charged them with stringent offences under the UAPA, IPC and ITA.
The case was then transferred from the Maant police to the Crime Branch, after which, on October 23, 2020, it was transferred again to the Special Task Force (STF) in Lucknow.
On April 3 this year, after 180 days had passed since their incarceration and no evidence had been found against them, the four men were entitled to bail by default. But on the same day, the STF filed a charge sheet against 8 accused- Alam, Kappan, Atiqur Rahman and Masood who were arrested on their way to Hathras and Danish – Alam’s relative, Rauf Shareef, national general secretary of the CFI, and CFI activists- Ansar Badruddin and Firoz Khan. Only Danish has been released.
Advocate Saifan said that the defence lawyers and accused were not given a copy of the charge sheet. “We don’t even know what charges have been filed. We have been waiting since April”.
Referring to the 5000-page charge sheet filed by the STF, he said that the Additional District Judge, Mathura took cognizance of the charge sheet without verification. “After taking cognizance, according to the law, it is mandatory that the charge sheet copy be sent to the defence lawyer or accused, free of charge. They haven’t done this.”
They are citing COVID reasons, he said, adding “They will take remand during COVID, they will arrest during COVID, why don’t they give a copy of the charge sheet? This is a deliberate measure to keep them behind bars for as long as possible.”
The UP Police, in their FIR, had stated the four had connections with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and were allegedly “collecting funds” for creating large-scale “unrest” in the wake of the Hathras gang-rape incident. The PFI is a legal organisation that has not been banned under the UAPA.
They were charged under sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups…), 295A (outraging religious feelings), 124A (sedition), 120B (conspiracy) of IPC and under the IT Act.
Subsequently, they were booked under sections 17, 18 (raising funds for terrorist act) of UAPA alleging that they were trying to incite communal riots and disrupt social harmony in the wake of the Hathras gangrape-murder case. They remain in Mathura jail under these charges.
\‘PFI link, anti-CAA, riot intention’ — What Kerala journalist headed to Hathras is accused of
Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan was arrested on 5 October along with three others. After Arnab Goswami’s bail, Kappan’s wife is now hopeful of bail for him too.
ANANYA BHARDWAJ
16 November, 2020 08:50 am IST
A file photo of Siddique Kappan. | Photo: Twitter/@vssanakan
A file photo of Siddique Kappan, who was arrested during an assignment | Photo: Twitter/@vssanakan
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New Delhi: An “intention” to start a riot, funds collected from “known, unknown sources”, association with Muslim organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) and a history of “organising demonstrations to protest against the citizenship amendment act (CAA)” — this is what the Uttar Pradesh Police has against Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan and two others booked under sedition and terror charges last month.
Siddique, along with Atiq-ur-Rahman and Masood Ahmed, both office-bearers of the Campus Front of India, the student wing of PFI, and a man identified as Alam were arrested on 5 October while on their way to Hathras to report on the alleged gang rape and murder case that made national headlines.
The arrested men have since been in a jail in Mathura due to the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) invoked against them. According to the police, all four are part of the PFI. However, the organisation is not banned in India.
Following his arrest, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) filed a habeas corpus petition challenging Siddique’s custody but Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde did not entertain the plea. Bobde asked the KUWJ to amend the writ petition. During the hearing, the union was also asked to approach the Allahabad High Court for relief.
The KUWJ then filed an interim application in a Mathura court seeking a video conference between Siddique and his family and lawyer as a meeting is required to amend the petition. But the chief judicial magistrate of Mathura rejected this.
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Soon after, the union filed an application in the top court challenging the Mathura court’s order, seeking that the lawyer be allowed to meet Siddique either physically or via video conference. An additional application was also filed in the Supreme Court for bail.
Both the applications are up for hearing Monday.
ThePrint has accessed court records, including the initial remand application, court orders and police records, including case diaries, to piece together the case and evidence against the journalist.
Also read: Arrest of Kerala journalist, 3 others UP govt’s move to hide Hathras case failures, CFI says
A ‘confession’ statement, ‘link to PFI’ cited as evidence
The Uttar Pradesh Police claims to have strong evidence against the four men — Athikur Rehman, Alam, Siddique and Masood — to show that they wanted to “start a riot in Hathras on the basis of caste, as they had done in the past during opposition to CAA on the basis of religion”.
For this, the police claims the men collected money from a number of “known, unknown sources” through “print and electronic means”.
The evidence placed on record to prove these allegations, however, are: a confession statement to the police (not admissible in court) that the four are members of PFI/CFI; their past association with organising and covering the anti CAA protests; an alleged link with members of the banned outfit SIMI; and some “media reports suggesting” that anti-social elements were trying to initiate a riot in Uttar Pradesh.
According to the police, the men created some websites and used the Hathras incident to create a “caste dispute” by projecting the alleged gang rape as a caste crime.
In a remand application last month, the police told the court that it was convinced about a “large conspiracy” behind these four men’s visit to Hathras and has enough evidence to book them for “raising funds for terrorist act”, sedition, promoting enmity between groups, and for “malicious acts, intending to outrage religious feelings”.
“The men admitted that they are members of PFI/CFI and during the investigation it was found that they had relations with former members of banned organisation SIMI and we have their statements,” a senior police officer told ThePrint.
“In the past, these men created various websites and pages on the internet in protest against the CAA and incited violence. Using the Hathras episode, the men wanted to spread communal disharmony. We have made a list of those and are probing them,” the officer said.
The police also told the court that the men were operating a website called carrd.co and printed pamphlets like “AM I NOT INDIAS DAUGHTER” to provoke a mass rebellion, funds for which were allegedly being pumped in by “foreign countries”, a claim that has been denied by Siddique’s family.
Riots planned in Hathras after CAA plan failed: UP Police charge sheet against Kappan, 7 others
The charge sheet, filed by the UP Police's Special Task Force, says Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan and other accused were receiving funding from foreign sources, including Muscat.
APOORVA MANDHANI
13 April, 2021 07:27 pm IST
Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan | @vssanakan | Twitter
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New Delhi: A ‘secret workshop’ in Kerala, foreign funding, 55 witnesses and literature from a banned organisation — these are some of the things presented as evidence in the 5,000-page charge sheet filed against Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan and seven others by the Uttar Pradesh Police.
A five-member team of UP Police’s Special Task Force (STF) filed the charge sheet in a Mathura court on 3 April against Kappan, Atiq-ur-Rahman, Masood Ahmed, Alam, K.A. Rauf Sharif, Mohammad Danish, Ansad Badruddin and Firoz Khan that accuses them of sedition and allegedly attempting to incite violence in the state.
Kappan was arrested on 5 October 2020, along with Rahman, Ahmad, and Alam, while he was on his way to Hathras to report on the alleged gang rape and death of a Dalit woman. It notes that when the accused were arrested, the police seized 1,717 printed papers, six smartphones and a laptop from them.
The charge sheet has been filed under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Information Technology Act.
It also lists 55 witnesses, of which over 40 are police personnel, and relies on electronic evidence.
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Furthermore, Kappan’s WhatsApp data and mobile location and Sharif’s statement has been cited to claim that a ‘secret workshop’ was organised by Kerala-based radical organisation Popular Front of India (PFI), in September last year.
According to the charge sheet, it was in this workshop that the accused were asked to commit violent acts under the guise of any criminal, communal and class conflict in Uttar Pradesh. It added that this was done after attempts to create communal disharmony through protests against Citizenship Amendment Act-National Register of Citizens failed in the state.
The court has set 1 May as the next date for hearing the case.
Also read: Shantanu Muluk created farmers toolkit, intended to spread rumours: Delhi Police to court
SIMI literature, foreign funding
The UP Police’s charge sheet alleges that the accused were receiving funding from foreign sources, including Muscat, and were on their way to Hathras on the directives of the PFI.
The charge sheet alleges that Kappan received Rs 25,000 in his bank account on 15 September last year and Rs 20,000 a day before he was arrested, from the radical organisation.
Similar cash deposits were made to the bank accounts of some of the other accused, the police said.
They also claimed to have seized explosives from Ansad Badruddin and Firoz Khan, who were arrested from Lucknow in February, on terror charges.
The charge sheet cites certain documents obtained from Kappan’s laptop as well. These include “an article written in support of terrorist Gulzar Ahmed Wani”, a video clip made with a photo of the Hathras victim’s cremation, several write-ups on the Delhi riots, and literature on the ideology of banned terrorist organisation, SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India).
Kappan’s mobile data has been cited to allege that the authorities have obtained incriminating chats between him and several PFI leaders.
Also read: In India, sedition law is the ‘toolkit’ to suppress dissent and criticism
‘Accused part of PFI, evidence shows intent to cause riots’
The charge sheet also claimed that, among other things, the papers seized from the accused detailed steps that should be taken during riots to ensure that rioters are not identified. This, it said, showed their criminal intent to cause riots.
The police also noted that the evidence collected so far shows that the accused were being sent to Hathras as part of a larger conspiracy to create “a feeling of dissatisfaction among the Dalits”, inducing them to indulge in class struggle and provoking violence.
Masood Ahmed, it said, has been posed as “an aggressive member of the PFI who brainwashes young boys into committing violent riots”.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Danish, also an accused in the Delhi riots case, and his relative Alam, a taxi driver, has also been chargesheeted as an accused in this case.
According to the charge sheet, Alam bought a taxi on 24 September 2020 — days before his arrest — by paying Rs 2.25 lakh in cash, aided by PFI and the co-accused.
While he was an OLA driver, he was driving along with the other accused to Hathras on the day that they were arrested. This, the charge sheet noted, proves that he was a part of the conspiracy.
K.A. Rauf Sharif, national general secretary of Campus Front of India (CFI), the student wing of the PFI, has also been named as an accused. The charge sheet alleged that Sharif was using a sim card with a fake name for a bank account, income tax registration and social media.
It also cites content seized from PFI’s Delhi office, which was “communally sensitive” and had the potential to “instigate religious sentiments among Muslims”. The UP STF had conducted searches at PFI’s Shaheen Bagh office in February this year.
Habeas corpus pending for 6 months
A day after Kappan’s arrest on 5 October last year, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) had filed a habeas corpus petition, challenging his custody.
The petition argued that the arrest was illegal and unconstitutional and contended that Kappan’s detention violates his fundamental rights under articles 14 (right to equality), 19 (freedom of speech and expression) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution.
However, this habeas corpus has been pending before the apex court for over six months now, along with his regular bail application that was filed more than five months ago.
He was granted a five-day interim bail to meet his ailing 90-year-old mother, earlier in February.
Meanwhile, the accused have filed an application in a Mathura court, seeking a direction to drop all proceedings in the case in absence of a prosecution sanction against them.
Also read: Expressing views different from govt’s not sedition — SC rejects plea against Farooq Abdullah
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TAGSHathrasSeditionSiddique Kappan
‘Filmed, watched from terrace’: How Delhi locality let ‘gang rape’ victim be paraded, didn't help
Victim was abducted, 'gangraped', assaulted, tonsured, had shoes flung around her neck and her face tarred, then paraded. The Shahdara neighbours jeered and hooted.
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Hathras case: ED files money laundering chargesheet against journalist Siddique Kappan, four others
A Lucknow special court has issued summons to the five accused for appearing before it on March 18, according to reports.
Scroll Staff
Feb 12, 2021 · 09:03 am
Updated Feb 12, 2021 · 09:05 am
Hathras case: ED files money laundering chargesheet against journalist Siddique Kappan, four others
File photo of Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday filed its first chargesheet against office-bearers of the Popular Front of India and its students’ wing Campus Front of India, accusing its members of wanting to “incite communal riots and spread terror” in the aftermath of the rape and murder of a Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras in September, PTI reported.
The chargesheet filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act named journalist Siddique Kappan and three other people allegedly related to PFI and CFI – Atikur Rahman, Masud Ahmed and Mohammad Alam – who were detained on October 5 while travelling to meet the family of the Dalit woman was gangraped by four upper-caste men. The chargesheet mentioned KA Rauf Sherif, also allegedly linked to the two organisations, reported the Hindustan Times.
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The chargesheet has been accepted by a special court in Lucknow. The court has issued summons to the five accused for appearing before it on March 18, unidentified officials told PTI.
In a statement, the ED said that the agency’s inquiry revealed that more than Rs 100 crore have been deposited in the accounts of PFI over the years, a large part which being in cash, according to the Hindustan Times. It further added that illegal activities of the PFI and CFI also included funding protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, creating trouble that led to the communal violence in Delhi in February 2020, and attempts to disturb harmony in Hathras.
Popular Front of India is a Kerala-based organisation that the Uttar Pradesh government has sought to be banned for its alleged involvement in violence during the protests against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act.
The Enforcement Directorate said its probe found “that the visit [to Hathras] of these PFI/CFI members was under the instructions of Rauf Sherif and funds for the same were also provided by him”, PTI reported.
Making its case for money laundering, the chargesheet alleged that Rauf Sherif entered into a criminal conspiracy with PFI members stationed in Gulf countries “to fraudulently transfer money raised/collected abroad by PFI in the guise of payments related to business transactions”, according to PTI.
Kappan and the three others who were detained along with him are already facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including sedition.
Hathras case: S ..
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/86689493.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Mohammad Alam, a cab driver from Delhi was one of the four people arrested in October 2020 along with journalist Siddique Kappan, Campus Front of India (CFI) office-bearers Atikur Rahman and Masood Ahmad while they were on their way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh to report on the rape and killing of a Dalit woman.
Listen to Bushra Alam, the wife of Alam, as she narrates her family's ordeal on the first anniversary of her husband's incarceration under UAPA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGNTahe9pGs
Image Credits: Aajkal, Twitter TRENDING The Logical Indian Crew Journalist Siddique Kappan, Three Others Discharged Of Breach Of Peace Case By UP Court Writer: Anuran Sadhu Uttar Pradesh, 16 Jun 2021 6:55 PM | Updated 16 Jun 2021 6:58 PM Editor : Ankita Singh | Creatives : Ankita Singh Siddique Kappan and three others were arrested on their way to Hathras and were charged under the apprehension of causing a breach of peace but were later slapped with charges of sedition and violation of UAPA and IT Act. Journalist Siddique Kappan and three others who were detained on their way to meet the Hathras victim's family on charges related to "breach of peace" have been discharged after eight months. The Sub Divisional Magistrate of Mant dropped the charges against them after the police failed to complete the investigation within the prescribed six-month period. Kappan (41), Atiqur Rahman (28), Masood Ahmed (28) and Mohd Alam (37) - the four allegedly linked to the Popular Front of India (PFI) were arrested on October 5, 2020, while they were on their way to meet the family of the 19-year old Dalit woman in Hathras who was allegedly gang-raped by men from a higher caste and later died due to the injuries. FIR Under UAPA The Sub Division Magistrate of Mant, Ram Dutt Ram discharged the four accused arrested under the Criminal Procedure Code Section 151 (Arrest to prevent the commission of cognizable offences), Section 107 (Security for keeping the peace in other cases) and Section 116 (Inquiry as to the truth of information), according to the defence counsel Madhuban Datt Chaturvedi. "Police couldn't provide evidence to substantiate charges of breach of peace within six months since the case began," Chaturvedi told The Times of India. The four accused, who has been in jail since October 7, have also been booked under Section 153A (promoting enmity between groups), Section 295A (outraging religious feelings), Section 124A (sedition), Section 120B (conspiracy) of IPC, Section 17 (Punishment for raising funds for terrorist act) and Section 18 ( Punishment for conspiracy) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and under the Information and Technology Act. These charges still stand. Siddique Kappan Moved Supreme Court According to the UP Police, the four men were on their way to Hathras to disrupt peace and stroke unrest. Siddique Kappan's family and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) have called the accusations 'false' and 'frivolous', as reported by The News Minute. In April of this year, Siddique Kappan's family moved to the Supreme Court, alleging that Kappan was being mistreated in the hospital after he tested positive for COVID-19. Later Supreme Court ordered the UP Government to shift him from a Mathura hospital to a government hospital in Delhi. He was admitted to AIIMS Delhi and later discharged on May 7. Later, he was brought back to Mathura Central Jail.
https://thelogicalindian.com/trending/journalist-siddique-kappan-and-three-others-discharged-of-breach-of-peace-case-by-up-court-28950
Journalist and three others, arrested on their way to Hathras, booked for sedition in U.P.
Omar RashidLUCKNOW, OCTOBER 07, 2020 14:12 IST
UPDATED: OCTOBER 07, 2020 23:42 IST
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Journalist Siddique Kappan and three others are escorted to a court in Mathura on October 7, 2020. | Photo Credit: PTI
Yogi Adityanath vows action against “conspirators” over Hathras.
The Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday booked journalist Siddique Kappan from Kerala and three others, who were arrested on Monday on their way to Hathras, for sedition and other charges.
The four were produced before a local court, which sent them in judicial remand. “Further action will be taken after collection of evidence in the investigation,” said Mathura SSP Gaurav Grover.
An FIR lodged against them at the Mant police station charges them under Section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 14 and 17 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967; Sections 65, 72 and 76 of the Information Technology Act, for promoting enmity between groups and outraging religious feelings. Section 17 of the UAPA deals with raising funds for terrorist acts.
The four were taken into custody at a toll plaza in Mathura when they were travelling in a car from Delhi to Hathras, the police said. The car was stopped after the police found their activities “suspicious”.
Besides Mr. Kappan, a journalist working with Malayalam portals based in Delhi, the other three were identified as Ateeq-ur-Rehman of Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed of Bahraich and Alam of Rampur. While Mr. Ahmed and Rehman are research scholars, Mr. Alam was the driver of the car, said Ansar Indori, their lawyer.
In the FIR, sub-inspector Prabal Singh accuses the four of carrying pamphlets reading ‘Justice for Hathras Victim’ and moving towards the district to disrupt peace as part of a “big conspiracy”.
Website creation
The FIR alleged that they, along with unidentified others, were linked to a crime involving the creation of an Internet platform carrd.co and website named ‘justiceforhathras’ with the motive of gathering foreign funds to trigger caste riots.
The pamphlets recovered from the four, reading: ‘Am I not India’s Daughter, Made With Carrd’, could spread social discord and mass rebellion, the police said.
Police recovered six mobile phones and a laptop from the four.
The FIR stated that as per media reports, some “anti-social elements” were trying to trigger riots and spread caste tension and adversely impact communal harmony over the Hathras incident.
It said some people were gathering funds for spreading caste fear and triggering riots by planning events and protests.
The organisers of carrd.co were collecting foreign donations to trigger riots, the police said, adding that no legal procedure was followed in collecting these funds thus making their worthy of being seized.
“Such websites are evoking anti-national feelings among the youth”, the FIR stated and accused the platform of engaging in anti-constitutional activities.
The FIR said organisations and workers linked to the said website were using it to “spread rumours about the alleged gang rape incident” to raise funds and provoke caste violence and riots under the garb of providing justice. “Who created the website and with what goal, how much funds were so far collected and where have they been used would all be investigated”, police said.
4 linked to PFI: police
The police, after arresting the four persons, had claimed they were linked to the Popular Front of India (PFI), an outfit blamed by the State government for the violence during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act last December.
The PFI said the attempt to link it to a conspiracy to incite caste or communal violence “is completely baseless and ridiculous”.
In a fresh statement, it said, “The new rounds of allegation against Popular Front are nothing but an attempt by the Uttar Pradesh government to divert the attention away from its failure to handle the Hathras rape case”.
CM’s warning
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who had said that those who don't like development wanted to trigger caste and communal riots, asked people to “recognise those faces doing politics on the body of a poor [Dalit girl]”.
“We won't let any conspiracy succeed and all the conspirators will be unmasked. We will take strong action against such elements who want to spread caste discord and anarchy, and disrupt development”, he said.
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A year after arrest, release sought of Siddique, 3 others in Hathras case
Marking one year of their arrest on October 5, Campus Front of India urged the immediate release of Kappan, Atiqur Rahman, Masid Ahmed and a cab driver Alam
Wednesday October 6, 2021 8:58 AM, IANS
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Siddique Kappan
[Image for representation.]
New Delhi: It became one year on Tuesday since journalist Siddique Kappan along with three others was sent to jail after being arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) following the rape and murder of a Dalit girl in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.
Marking one year of their arrest on October 5, Campus Front of India urged the immediate release of Kappan, Atiqur Rahman, Masid Ahmed and a cab driver Alam.
During a press conference, Dr L Hanumanthai MP, Rajya Sabha, from Karnataka said that if the people of India will not speak against the draconian law democracy will be gradually destroyed.
Urging the release of Kappan, he said:
"Our forefathers had not sacrificed their lives to see the current situation in India where people are being arrested and punished without any unlawful activities. People are being targeted in the name of religion and caste and this Hathras case is one such example. "
He said the UAPA Act should be scrapped because many innocent people are spending years of their lives behind bars.
"Under UAPA, getting bail is impossible. I had even raised this issue during the last Parliament session and demanded scrapping of UAPA Act."
Apoorvanand, Professor in Delhi University who was also present at the press conference, said that the Uttar Pradesh Police has filed a chargesheet of 5,000 pages, but the same was not provided to them.
He said the student organisation Campus Front of India leaders decided to show solidarity with the family's quest for justice.
"Every citizen of India has the right to show solidarity with victims and their families. During Kappan's arrest the UP Police said he is not a journalist but now in their chargesheet the police had stated that the kind of journalism he has been doing for the last several years is favourable to the Muslim community, inciting Muslim people against the country. It means UP Police has accepted that he was a journalist."
Sanchita Rehman, wife of Atiqur Rehman, who was also present on the occasion, said:
"In the last one year we have made several appeals that he should be taken to AIIMS for his treatment as doctors have already said but UP police did not listen to us. Today, I would request the people of India to support us. My husband did nothing wrong but he was falsely implicated by the UP government."
2 Months & Counting: Hathras UAPA Accused Wait to Get Charge Sheet
“The law states that the accused must get a copy of the charge sheet ‘without delay’. Is 2 months not delay enough?”
AISHWARYA S IYER
Updated: 02 Jun 2021, 10:00 AM IST
INDIA
5 min read
“The law states that the accused must get a copy of the charge sheet ‘without delay’. Is 2 months not delay enough?”
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In ‘blatant violation of the fundamental right to a fair trial’ under Section 207 of the CRPC, which mandates that a copy of the charge sheet be provided to the accused ‘without delay’, eight UAPA accused booked in the aftermath of the Hathras rape-murder case have not been supplied the copy even two months after a Mathura court took cognisance of it, The Quint has learnt.
Of the eight accused, four men, Siddique Kappan, Atiq-ur Rehman, Masood Ahmed and Alam, were booked by UP police on their way to the Dalit victim’s home in west UP, on the allegation of a “very determined design to create caste divide and disturb the law and order situation.” Of the remaining four Rauf Sharif, Firoze and Ansad Badruddin, were arrested later, while another accused Danish has not been arrested as he moved Allahabad HC against coercive action.
The men have maintained their innocence and said they were on their way as journalists to report on the matter or as activists to sympathise with them.
This violation continues despite attempts by their families and lawyers to get the court to provide them a copy of the charge sheet. “The law states the accused must get a copy of the charge sheet ‘without delay’. Is 2 months not delay enough?,” the lawyers ask.
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Lawyer: ‘Worried Police Would Add or Subtract Evidence’
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Illegal, Immoral: Lawyer on Siddique Kappan’s Discharge From AIIMS
Illegal, Immoral: Lawyer on Siddique Kappan’s Discharge From AIIMS
UP police have booked the men under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295 A (deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 124 A (sedition) of the IPC, 65 and 72 of the IT Act and 17 (punishment for raising funds for a terrorist act) and 18 (punishment for conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Mathura-based advocate Madhuvandatt Chaturvedi, who is the lawyer for seven of the eight UAPA accused, other than Kappan, tells The Quint from Mathura:
“I have lived and worked as an advocate in these courts for 30 years. The UP Police knows the charges are not frame-worthy. They know they do not have the evidence or material to back the charges of UAPA and sedition. Therefore, they want the accused to stay in jail and the longer accused like Kappan and others spend in jail, the more the police will see it as their success.”
After the court took cognisance of the charge sheet on 3 April, the judge fixed the next date of hearing to about a month later on 1 May. “The judge issued no order stating the accused must get a copy of the charge sheet,” Chaturvedi says. In the interim he started getting worried about the police adding or deleting information to the charge sheet. “So we kept reiterating how we wanted the court to do an indexing, to ensure pages are numbered,” he said adding that this would mean the police can not hamper with the evidence submitted.
In the meanwhile, Kappan’s lawyer, Wills Mathews kept sending emails of inquiries to the official ID of the Mathura court. “We did not get any response for a month,” he said adding that whatever he got to know about the case then, was through media reports.
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Attempt 1: Inspection Application Filed
Considering how he would not get access to the charge sheet anytime soon, Chaturvedi submitted an inspection application with the concerned department of the judiciary to at least be able to see the charge sheet.
Alam (centre) and Siddique Kappan (right) in police custody. Photo: PTI/Files
Siddique Kappan case: Scribe's lawyer to knock Allahabad HC door now
Journalist Siddique Kappan and his associates Atigque-Ur-Rahman, Masood Ahemad and Alam were arrested on October 5, 2020 when they were proceeding towards Hathras village.
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Published: 17th December 2021 10:47 AM | Last Updated: 17th December 2021 10:47 AM | A+A A-
Journalist Siddique KappanJournalist Siddique Kappan (Photo| Facebook)By PTI
MATHURA: The transfer of trial in the case against journalist Siddique Kappan and others from a court here to a special court in Lucknow was done without following due procedure, their lawyer said on Thursday and added that they will appeal in the high court against it.
Defense counsel Madhuban Datt Chaturvedi said the judge transferred the matter to the special NIA (National Investigation Agency) court in Lucknow without assigning any reason for rejecting the plea of the defense counsel.
The Mathura court transferred the matter on December 13.
"Since set procedure was not followed, our clients have decided to appeal in the high court," the defense counsel said.
Journalist Siddique Kappan and his associates Atigque-Ur-Rahman, Masood Ahemad and Alam were arrested on October 5, 2020 when they were proceeding towards Hathras village where a 19-year-old woman died after allegedly being gang-raped.
They were arrested on the apprehension of causing a breach of peace but later slapped with stringent charges of sedition and provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Four others arrested separately were also included in the case.
Police have alleged that they were part of the Popular Front of India (PFI).
