Siddique Kappan walks free after 27 months in prison

Kerala-based journalist Siddique Kappan was released from the Lucknow jail in Uttar Pradesh this morning, after he got a bail in a case against him.

The order for the release of Kappan was given by the  Sessions Judge, Lucknow soon after his bail bonds were accepted on Wednesday.

Reporter for a Malayalam news portal Azhimukham, and secretary of the Delhi unit of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), Siddique Kappan was was arrested with three others in UP, while he was in his way to report on the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl in Hathras.

Siddique Kappan was booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and later on under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Siddique Kappan was in District Jail, Lucknow since December 2020.

Kappan was denied bail in the UAPA case, he by lower courts and the Allahabad High Court, before the relief was granted to him by the Apex court in August 2022. 

Although talking about the case under PMLA, he was granted bail by Allahabad High Court in December 2022.