New Delhi: A Mathura court on Tuesday dismissed the bail plea of journalist Siddique Kappan who was picked up by the UP Police in September 2020 when he was on the way to a village in Hathras district where a Dalit woman was raped and beaten by certain upper-caste men.

Additional Sessions Judge Anil Kumar Pandey referred to the alleged material collected against him during the investigation carried out to deny him bail. He noted that the allegation against Kappan is that he, along with the co-accused committed acts that promoted enmity within the society and affected the communal harmony prevailing in the society.

He further stated that it has been alleged that Kappan had received foreign funding for the purpose of affecting and damaging the integrity of the nation and that during the investigation, it had been found out that he is a worker of PFI and has been indulged in anti-national acts.

This comes after charges related to apprehension of breach of peace against Kappan and others were dropped on 15 June 2021 by a Mathura court, as the police had failed to complete the investigation into the case within six months.

Kappan who is also the Delhi unit secretary of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), recently lost his 90-year-old mother, Khadija Kutty, to prolonged illness. In February, he was granted five days’ interim bail to meet his mother.

This story first appeared on muslimmirror.com