A Lucknow court on Thursday has postponed the hearing in the bail application of Kerala based journalist Siddique Kappan in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till October 10. The District Session Court of Additional District Judge 1 which was supposed to hear the bail plea moved by Mr. Kappan was not available hence the matter was postponed.
Talking to The Hindu, Mohamad Dhanish K.S., the lawyer looking after the case from Mr. Kappan’s side in Lucknow said, “The regular District Session Court Lucknow Additional District Judge (ADJ) 1 which was supposed to hear the matter on Thursday, September 29, was not sitting, the matter was transferred to another court. We requested for the early date, but due to holidays the court gave us the date of October 10 in the regular district session court of ADJ-1,”.
The Supreme Court on September 9 has granted bail to Mr. Kappan in other cases but the journalist continues to remain in Lucknow prison as he is yet to get relief in the PMLA case.
Mr. Kappan who is originally from Kerala worked as a reporter for Malayalam news website Azhimukham and also held the post of secretary in Delhi Unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) has been lodged in U.P. jails since his arrest in October 2020 while he was on his way to Hathras, where a Dalit woman had died after allegedly being raped. Mr. Kappan was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act apart from the PMLA by the law enforcement agencies.
