5000-Page UP Police Chargesheet Siddiqui Kappan Accuses Jailed Journalist Of Terror Links

Thirty-six articles written by Mr Kappan - accused of having links to the Popular Front of India or PFI, an outfit the Yogi Adityanath government wants banned - have been cited in the chargesheet.

A 5,000-page chargesheet by Uttar Pradesh Police against journalist Siddiqui Kappan, jailed last year when he was headed to report the Hathras gangrape case that triggered nationwide shock, has accused him of "trying to further the terror agenda" of the banned outfit SIMI (Student's Islamic Movement of India), according to a few pages reviewed by NDTV . The chargesheet - filed in April by the UP Police's Special Task Force and presented before a Mathura court - has still not been made available to Mr Kappan or his legal representatives, his lawyers have claimed. They have petitioned the trial court, seeking "true copies of the document to the accused".

Thirty-six articles written by Mr Kappan - accused of having links to the Popular Front of India or PFI, an outfit the Yogi Adityanath government wants banned - have been cited in the chargesheet

One of the articles is on the protests against the controversial citizenship law that started in December 2019 across the country and continued till the pandemic began. "The article talks about the firing by a Hindu man Kapil Gurjar during the Shaheen Bagh Protests and compares this incident to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The article also criticizes that way the Delhi police handled the protests," the chargesheet reads.

Another article cited is on Sharjeel Imam, an activist facing a terror case over his alleged role in the northeast Delhi riots last year, saying it promotes feelings of communalism.