Allahabad High Court grants bail to journalist Siddique Kappan in PMLA case
The jailed journalist has moved the High Court after being denied bail by a Lucknow sessions court on October 31 in the PMLA case
The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on December 23, 2022, granted bail to Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The jailed journalist has moved the High Court after being denied bail by a Lucknow sessions court on October 31 in the PMLA case which led the journalist to remain in prison despite being granted bail by the Supreme Court (SC) in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case in September 2022.
The bail from the High Court means Mr. Kappan will walk free after more than 26 months since his arrest in October 2020 while he was on his way to Hathras, where a Dalit woman had died after allegedly being raped. Mr. Kappan was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act apart from the PMLA by law enforcement agencies.
The Supreme Court on September 9 granted bail to Mr. Kappan in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case, stating that “every citizen has the right to free expression”.
Mr. Kappan who originally hails from Kerala worked as a reporter for the Malayalam news website Azhimukham and also held the post of secretary in the Delhi Unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ).
