Chargesheet against journalist Kappan a bid to 'consider' any dissent, criticism a crime

By Siddique Qureshi*

Movement Against UAPA and Other Repressive Laws (MURL) chairperson Justice BG Kolse Patil has said that in a statement that the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) chargesheet in the Siddiqui Kappan case is a highly disturbing document that goes against the Supreme Court's efforts to read the sedition law and prevent its misuse.

According to Justice Kolse Patil, former judge of the Bombay High Court, during a preliminary hearing on a bunch of petitions challenging the sedition law, the Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana, expressed concern over the misuse of the law and the lack of accountability of executive agencies. The Supreme Court's stance reinforced growing criticism that the colonial-era law was being misused by the state to curb citizens' freedom, including freedom of expression.

In recent times, the court has been consistently barring sedition, citing the rigor in the enforcement of the archaic law and the lack of due process. This has pointed to a low conviction rate in these cases, which have shown a significant increase since the year 2016, according to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data, sedition cases, and those under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) saw a rise in 2019, but only 3% of sedition cases led to convictions.

In this backdrop, the 5,000-page chargesheet filed by the UP STF against Delhi-based journalist Siddiqui Kappan only corroborates the many apprehensions and concerns that have been expressed by civil liberties groups and supported by the apex court. The chargesheet lays out strange allegations against Kappan, who was arrested a year ago, when he was on his way to Hathras in UP to report on the murder of a Dalit woman.

Kappan was booked under the stringent UAPA, and also charged with sedition (Section 124A of IPC). He has been accused of conspiring to incite unrest and riots – the chargesheet claims that Kappan did not write as a "responsible" journalist, "reports only and only to incite Muslims", and of Maoists and Communists and expressed sympathy with It.

Justice BG Kolse Patil

They have presented volumes of 36 articles written by Kappan in Malayalam – on anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests, riots in northeast Delhi, Nizamuddin Markaz gathering during Covid – as evidence. The STF has attached a case diary note, discussing an article written by Kappan during the anti-CAA protests at Aligarh Muslim University, saying, “In the writing, Muslims are portrayed as victims (who were beaten up by the police and were asked to go to Pakistan).

Kappan has also been accused of serving as a "think tank" of what they call “Popular Front of India (PFI)". These "accusations" are unthinkable, unbearable, and too fictitious to think that they might constitute treason. Clearly, the UP STF is attempting a new definition of crime, in which the government grades any dissent and criticism.

The chargesheet against Kappan is a highly disturbing document that goes against the Supreme Court's efforts to read the sedition law and prevent its misuse. This creates much of the fear that has been highlighted by the court – "executive agencies severely limit individual liberties and criminalize dissent by using a vaguely worded law".

---

*Coordinator, Movement Against UAPA and Other Repressive Laws (MURL)

Comments

Unknown said…

I think Indians are overly sensitive about Sedition. People are sued for decorating a cake with flag and or map of India, or sometimes putting feet on the table where a flag is kept. This is ridiculous. I have read many other nonsensical reasons. However, the duty of state is to maintain law and order and not let an explosive situation become worse. I know and have read many writers purposely present partial news and do a slanted analysis, with a view of embarrassing the current Govt., and disturb/delay the onset of peace, and make the situation worse and uncontrollable. To that extent such writers and politicians must be condemned and held accountable.Preventing such people from aggravating the situation, is duty of State. However, using Sedition as a charge is truly going too far.Sedition should be used only for direct acts of sedition and should have a narrower definition.

October 11, 2021

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By A Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.

Bihar’s land at ₹1 per acre for Adani sparks outrage, NAPM calls it crony capitalism

By A Representative The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has strongly condemned the Bihar government’s decision to lease 1,050 acres of land in Pirpainti, Bhagalpur district, to Adani Power for a 2,400 MW coal-based thermal power project.

Counterview

Search This Blog