A cab driver from India’s capital who went to jail because he is Muslim

 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

Text Size: A- A+

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.

PlayUnmute

Fullscreen

VDO.AI

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

Text Size: A- A+

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.

VDO.AI

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

 

Recommended Content by theprint.in

Skip Ad

Rajasthan schools to begin opening from Feb 1

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube & Telegram

Why news media is in crisis & How you can fix it

India needs free, fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism even more as it faces multiple crises.

But the news media is in a crisis of its own. There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism is shrinking, yielding to crude prime-time spectacle.

ThePrint has the finest young reporters, columnists and editors working for it. Sustaining journalism of this quality needs smart and thinking people like you to pay for it. Whether you live in India or overseas, you can do it here.

Support Our Journalism 

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.

ThePrint