India: Court drops charges against journalist Siddique Kappan and 3 others

Mathura - Police failed to complete the inquiry within the prescribed limit of six months

By Web report

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Published: Wed 16 Jun 2021, 12:06 PM

Last updated: Wed 16 Jun 2021, 12:07 PM

A Mathura court dropped proceedings against Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan and three others on Tuesday as the police failed to complete the inquiry within the prescribed limit of six months.

Siddique and three men suspected of having links to the radical group Popular Front of India (PFI) had been arrested in October when they were on their way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh to meet the family of a Dalit woman who had been gang raped and murdered.


The other three persons included Atiqur Rahman, Masood Ahmed and Alam. They were booked on charges of breach of peace and later slapped with charges of sedition and violation of an anti-terror law and the IT Act.

The accused had denied the charges levelled against them. Their lawyer recently moved an application in the court requesting that the proceedings against the accused be dropped as the police had not provided evidence in the prescribed period of six months. The court discharged the accused on technical grounds.


Other charges against the accused included promoting enmity between groups, outraging religious feelings, sedition, conspiracy and raising funds for terrorist acts.

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