UP police, government did everything they could to deny Kappan bail, says wife Raihanath

On 10 September, Raihanath Kappan, wife of Siddique Kappan who had reached New Delhi for the bail hearing shared a video exclusively with South First and spoke about her journey seeking justice for her husband.

In Raihanath’s words

Raihanath travelled from Kerala to Lucknow on 6 September as she was told that Kappan would be produced in a court there. However, she said she couldn’t meet him due to some issues in court; this was when she left Lucknow for New Delhi. She reached New Delhi on the day of the Supreme Court hearing and was in court when the bail plea was heard. 

“After two years, Honourable Supreme Court gave bail to him. I am happy about it. But two years was not a short period. He was put behind bars for two years without any evidence. UP police and the UP government did everything they could to deny bail for Kappan,” Raihanath said in her video.

She said that she, and those who stood with Kappan, had to struggle a lot, but they were looking forward to Siddique Kappan’s acquittal in the case. 

Raihanath also took the opportunity to thank the people who stood with Kappan.

She said she was helped by many “good human beings”, including the KUWJ (Kerala Union of Working Journalists), friends in the media, advocate Haris Beeran, KUWJ’s advocate Wills Mathew, Advocate IB Singh and his son Ishan Baghel, who appeared for Kappan in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, and numerous members of the Siddique Kappan Solidarity Group.

“Advocate Kapil Sibal Sir, from the day Kappan was arrested till today, he did not charge any money as a fee from me or my family. He took up the case for the reason that an innocent journalist is in jail,” said Raihanath.

She also thanked people in her locality and stated that the prayers of many good people and their relentless hard work got Kappan bail. 

Supreme Court bail order

The Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narasimha, when granting the bail, stated that every person has the right to freedom of expression

The Supreme Court in the bail order asked Kappan to be in Delhi for the next six weeks and allowed him to go back to Kerala after that period.

The apex court set conditions that included Kappan marking his presence with a local police station every week.

According to LiveLaw, Chief Justice Lalit asked counsel for UP government Mahesh Jethmalani what materials were found on Kappan, to which he responded that only ID cards and literature were found.

To the question of whether any explosives were found by the police, Jethmalani replied in the negative.

The Supreme Court intervention came weeks after the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court denied bail to the Malayali journalist.