Hathras-bound Kerala scribe held, Police allege PFI links

The Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested a journalist and three other people in Mathura while they were on their way to Hathras, home to a Dalit woman who died after being allegedly gang-raped.

The Uttar Pradesh police had on Monday said it has arrested four people having links with the Popular Front of India and its affiliate in Mathura.

The PFI had been accused of funding protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act across the country earlier this year and the UP police had sought a ban on the outfit.

The police had identified the arrested persons as Siddique from Malappuram, Atiq-ur Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur. Hours after the arrest, a prominent journalist body of Kerala identified Malappuram native Siddique by his full name as Siddique Kappan, saying he is “a senior Delhi-based journalist.”

In a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the Delhi unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) sought immediate release of Kappan saying he is “a senior Delhi-based journalist working for Malayalam media houses, including azhimukham.com.”

Terming Kappan’s arrest as “illegal and unconstitutional”, the KUWJ also filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking his immediate production before the court and release from the “illegal detention.” The union also wrote to the Prime Minister seeking the scribe’s immediate release.