Kerala journalist Sidheeq Kappan was in Vijayawada to attend the Virasam Mahasabhalu and other programmes.
| Photo Credit: G.N. Rao

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Uttar Pradesh to respond to a petition filed by Kerala-based journalist Siddique Kappan for a relaxation of a bail condition to report to the police every week in a UAPA case registered against him.

A Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and R. Mahadevan listed the case after two weeks.

Mr. Kappan was arrested in October 2020 en route to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh following the death of a Dalit woman who was allegedly gangraped.

The Supreme Court had allowed him to be released on bail on September 9, 2022. By then he had suffered custody for nearly two years.

The apex court had held that “every person has a right to free expression”.

The State had opposed the bail, calling Mr. Kappan an “agent provocateur” for the “terror gang” Popular Front of India who was financed and sent to incite riots in Hathras.

In 2022, the court had asked senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, whether the literature on ‘Justice for Hathras’ contained anything to suggest that Mr. Kappan was en route to Hathras to incite riots. It had enquired if explosives were found in the vehicle. The State had replied in the negative.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Haris Beeran, for Mr. Kappan, had said the case was “not prosecution but persecution”.