Siddique Kappan, a journalist from Kerala who had been arrested in October 2020 on his way to Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras walked out of jail on Thursday. The sureties required for his bail were submitted in a Lucknow court on February 1.
Kappan was released from jail around 9.15 am, Jailor of Lucknow District Jail Rajendra Singh told the media.
As Kappan came out of the jail, he thanked the media for support and said false allegations were levelled against him. “I have come out of jail after 28 months. I want to thank the media for supporting me. False allegations were put against me. I am happy to be out now,” he said.
In the release order, district and sessions judge Sanjay Shanker Pandey had directed the Lucknow prison superintendent to release Kappan if he is not wanted in any other case, sources said.
On the question of whether Kappan’s submission of sureties has been done in the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, his lawyer Mohamed Dhanish K S told news agency PTI, “Sureties were presented in the court today. Court part is complete now. Release order sent to jail”.
Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court had granted bail to Kappan in December last year in a case lodged by the Directorate of Enforcement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Kappan, who is also the secretary of the Delhi unit of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police along with three others, while they were going to report an alleged gang rape and murder case of a 19-year-old Dalit girl in Hathras.
Earlier on November 1, a local court in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow refused to grant bail to the Kerala-based journalist in the money laundering case.
On September 9, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Kappan, who was arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In the order, Chief Justice UU Lalit, Justice S Ravindra Bhat, and Justice PS Narasimha had directed that the petitioner would be released on bail in the next three days after applying in the trial court.
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