Arrested On Way To Hathras, Kerala Journalist, 3 Others With 'PFI Link' Charged Under Anti-Terror Law

The four men were detained by the Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday afternoon from a toll plaza in Mathura while they were on their way to Hathras to meet the family of 19-year-old Dalit girl,

Police produce journalist Siddique Kappan and three others, suspected to have links with the PFI to a court in Mathura. (Imgage: PTI)

New Delhi: A journalist along with three other people were booked on Wednesday under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and charged with sedition for their alleged link with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its students’ organisation Campus Front of India (CFI). According to reports, the men were detained by the Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday afternoon from a toll plaza in Mathura while they were on their way to Hathras to meet the family of 19-year-old Dalit girl, who was brutally gangraped and murdered last week. According to the UP Police, four arrested men linked with the PFI & CFI were identified as Atiq-ur-Rehman, Siddique, Masood Ahmed and Alam.  A  journalist body of Kerala identified Malappuram native Siddique by his full name as Siddique Kappan, and claimed he is a senior Delhi-based journalist working with some Malayalam news outlets. The journalist is currently in preventive custody of Mathura police. Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) has filed a habeas corpus petition in the top court against the arrest of the journalist. Terming the arrest as illegal and unconstitutional, the journalists' body has filed the petition seeking his immediate production and release from "illegal detention". Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment (UAPA) is an anti-terror law, passed in 2019, aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations and for dealing with terrorist activities in the country. 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 plea states that the arrest was made in violation of the mandatory guidelines laid down by apex court and with the sole intention of obstructing the discharge of duty by a journalist. Hathras has been in the news following the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman who was allegedly gang-raped on September 14 in a village in the district. Her cremation at night by the authorities, allegedly without the parents' consent, has triggered widespread outrage.