A court in Mathura dropped proceedings on charges related to apprehension of breach of peace against Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan and three other Muslim youths on Tuesday as the police failed to complete the inquiry against them within the prescribed period of six months, reported legal website Live Law.
They have been discharged of the charges under Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc) sections 151(Arrest to prevent the commission of cognizable offences), 107(Security for keeping the peace in other cases) and 116 (Inquiry as to truth of information).
The other charges, including sedition and under UAPA, still stand.
Kappan, Campus Front of India leaders Atiq-ur Rehman, Masood Ahmed, and a Delhi based cab driver Alam were arrested on October 5 when they were on their way to the Hathras village after the gangrape-murder of a Dalit teenager. They were arrested on the “apprehension of causing a breach of peace” but were later slapped with draconian charges of UAPA, sedition and Information Technology Act.
“Police couldn’t provide evidence to substantiate charges of breach of peace within six months since the case began. The charges in this first case, on the basis of which the four had been detained in the first place, could not be proven. That could help in the other cases as well,” Defence lawyer of the four accused told reporters.
Kappan has moved a regular bail application before the Mathura District Court stressing that in the charge sheet, the that in the charge sheet, there is nothing to connect the applicant with the alleged offences other than bald allegations, without supporting documents.
