Verification of bail sureties remains incomplete after 50 days in Siddique Kappan’s UAPA case

The Supreme Court on September 9 granted bail to Siddique Kappan in the UAPA case

Even after 50 days of providing the bail sureties for journalist Siddique Kappan in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case as per Supreme Court order, the verification of sureties has not yet been completed in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr. Kappan’s lawyer told The Hindu that delay in these verifications would result in affecting the process to fulfil the bail conditions. “Ideally it shouldn’t take more than a week for verification in any State. It has been 50 days since we provided the sureties in the UAPA case as per SC order. But the verification of sureties has not yet completed and now in an indefinite delay,” Mr. Kappan’s lawyer Mohamed Dhanish said.

Earlier it took roughly 10 days for Mr. Kappan’s lawyers to find two Uttar Pradesh residents, which included 79-year-old Roop Rekha Verma, a former acting Vice-Chancellor of Lucknow University who agreed to stand surety to fulfil bail conditions.

The Supreme Court on September 9 granted bail to Mr. Kappan in the UAPA case, stating that “every citizen has the right to free expression”, but the journalist is still in jail as he is yet to get relief in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). On October 31, Mr. Kappan’s bail plea in the PMLA case was rejected by a Lucknow sessions court. After the order, the journalist’s wife Raihanath Kappan said, “surprised and disappointed that one line order did not even give any reason for rejecting the bail”.

On asked who is to be blamed for the delay in verification of bail sureties in the UAPA case, Mr. Kappan’s lawyer said, “We are not blaming anyone but the fact is gross injustice is being done towards Siddique Kappan even after the order from Honourable Supreme Court. Lingering these verifications will result in paralysing the process of bail conditions to fulfil”.

Mr. Kappan, who hails from Kerala, has been lodged in Uttar Pradesh jails since his arrest in October 2020 while he was on his way to Hathras, where a Dalit woman had died after allegedly being raped. The journalist who also held the post of secretary in Delhi Unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists was booked under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Information Technology Act apart from the PMLA by the law enforcement agencies.