Student leader Masud Ahmed who was arrested along with Malayali journalist Siddique Kappan and others under draconian charges in October 2020, has been granted bail in the Hathras UAPA case on Tuesday.
The Allahabad High Court had earlier granted Masud bail in the ED case but he was not released as bail was not granted in the UAPA case.
Jamia Millia Islamia student and Journalism graduate Masud Ahmed was arrested by UP Police and jailed under UAPA.
Malayali journalist Siddique Kappan, student leaders Atiq Rahman and the driver of the vehicle, Muhammad Alam, who were accused in the case, were earlier released on bail in the UAPA case and the ED case.
They were arrested on October 5, 2020, while travelling to the residence of a Dalit woman who was gang-raped and killed by upper-caste men in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras.
A day after the arrest, they were slapped with the sedition and UAPA charges, as the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath claimed they were ‘conspiring’ against his government to provoke large-scale violence in the state.
Masud, along with Atiq, was leading a delegation of Campus Front of India (CFI), a students’ forum (of which he is the Delhi State Secretary), to extend their solidarity with the victim’s family.
Another student leader and Campus Front of India former national secretary Rauf Shareef was also arrested in the same case.
He was released after spending 33 months in jail for merely transferring Rs 5000 to his friend and fellow party member Atiq’s account.
Masud was an active presence in Jamia Millia’s campus politics and anti-CAA agitation.He had also volunteered for several community upliftment programs for the underprivileged.
Apart from social work, he was preparing for the civil services examination.
Though the court has granted bail, the date of his release is yet to be known. The process might even take weeks, as in earlier cases.
