41 months after arrest, HC grants bail to Siddiqui Kappan co-accused in UAPA case

Allahabad: Masood Ahmed, a student leader, has been granted bail by the Allahabad High Court in relation to the 2020 Hathras ‘Conspiracy’ case, LiveLaw reported on Monday. This case involves four individuals, including Masood and journalist Siddiqui Kappan, who have been charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the UP Police.

The decision was made by a bench comprising Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I. They considered the fact that the Supreme Court had already granted bail to co-accused Kappan and that other co-accused individuals had been granted bail by a coordinate Bench of this Court.

The court took into account Masood’s extended custody period of 41 months and granted him relief, without commenting on the merits of the case. This decision overturned the Special NIA Court’s December 2022 order, which had previously denied him bail. The Division bench noted that the special court had failed to properly evaluate the available evidence.

It’s worth noting that Masood, Kappan, and two others have been indicted by the Uttar Pradesh police’s Special Task Force for sedition, criminal conspiracy, funding of terror activities, and other offences. They are accused of being involved in money laundering offences with the intent to “incite communal riots and spread terror” following the Hathras gang rape case.

They have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 153(A) (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 124(A) (sedition), 295(A) (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy).

Additionally, they have been charged under sections 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which pertain to raising funds for terror acts, as well as various sections of the IT Act.