SC defers to Nov 2 hearing on Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan's plea for release of passport

New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred to November 2 the hearing on a plea of Kerala-based journalist Siddique Kappan seeking the release of his passport, which was deposited as part of bail conditions in the Hathras conspiracy case.

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe adjourned the hearing after Uttar Pradesh's standing counsel Ruchira Goel said she was served the application in the morning and needed to seek instructions on it.

The bench agreed to the submission and said it would take up the matter on November 2.

Kappan was arrested from Hathras in Uttar Pradesh on October 6, 2020, while he was on his way to report on the gangrape-murder of a Dalit girl there. He was booked under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Act for alleged conspiracy to incite riots following the gangrape-murder of the girl.

On September 9, 2022, the top court granted him bail, allowing his appeal against an order of the Allahabad High Court.

The top court had laid down several conditions for the bail, including that Kappan would have to remain in Delhi for the next six months after release from prison and report to the Nizamuddin police station here on Monday every week.

It had said that after a period of six months, he could travel to his native place, Malappuram in Kerala, and there, too, he would have to report to the local police station every Monday.

"The appellant shall not leave the jurisdiction of Delhi without the express consent of the trial court," it had said, adding, "The appellant shall either in person or through lawyer shall attend the trial court on every single day. The appellant shall deposit his passport with the investigative machinery."

The FIR in the case was filed under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the UA against four people having alleged links with the banned Popular Front of India.

Police had earlier claimed that the accused were trying to disturb law and order in Hathras.

The Allahabad High Court had dismissed Kappan's bail plea in 2022, saying, "Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, nature of the offence, evidence on record, considering the complicity of the accused, the severity of punishment and the settled law propounded by the apex court, at this stage, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, this court is not inclined to release the applicant on bail."

Earlier, a Mathura court had junked Kappan's bail application.

The Dalit girl had died at a Delhi hospital a fortnight after she was allegedly raped by four men from her village on September 14, 2020.

She was cremated in the middle of the night in her village. Her family had claimed that the cremation was held without their consent and that they were not allowed to bring home the body one last time.

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