NEW DELHI: Members of various journalist unions staged a demonstration outside the Press Club of India (PCI) here on Tuesday demanding immediate release of journalist Siddique Kappan who has been in jail for a year and charged by the Uttar Pradesh police with terror offences.
Kappan and three others were arrested at Mathura on October 5 last year when they were on their way to a village in Hathras to meet the family members of a dalit girl who had died after being gang-raped.
“He was arrested even before reaching the spot... We are fighting for a free media. There should be no curbs on the media if someone is going to a spot to report,” said PCI president Umakant Lakhera.
“Spot and investigative reporting is dying day by day. We are appealing to the highest judiciary of the country to release Kappan and to quash the charges against him,” he added.
Members of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), PCI and the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) joined the protest.
DUJ general secretary Sujata Madhok said, “…it has been one year since the jailing of Kappan and others… The judiciary must take action. You cannot indefinitely jail people.”
The KUWJ also held a similar protest in front of the General Post Office in Thiruvananthapuram. Opposition leader VD Satheesan, addressing the protesters, said the UP government was muzzling the press freedom by slapping fake cases against journalists.
Meanwhile, family members and friends of Atiqur Rahman of the Campus Front of India, who was arrested along with Kappan, addressed the media at PCI in Delhi. Rahman’s wife Sanjeeda said that her husband needs immediate medical assistance.
Delhi University professor Apoorvanand alleged that the charges filed against the four accused are fabricated.
Rajya Sabha MP L Hanumanthaiah said, “I have come here from Bengaluru in support of the people who have been in jail without trial even after one year...”
