New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS): It became one year on Tuesday since journalist Siddique Kappan along with three others was sent to jail after being arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) following the rape and murder of a Dalit girl in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.
Marking one year of their arrest on October 5, Campus Front of India urged the immediate release of Kappan, Atiqur Rahman, Masid Ahmed and a cab driver Alam.
During a press conference, Dr L Hanumanthai MP, Rajya Sabha, from Karnataka said that if the people of India will not speak against the draconian law democracy will be gradually destroyed.
Urging the release of Kappan, he said, "Our forefathers had not sacrificed their lives to see the current situation in India where people are being arrested and punished without any unlawful activities. People are being targeted in the name of religion and caste and this Hathras case is one such example. "
He said the UAPA Act should be scrapped because many innocent people are spending years of their lives behind bars. "Under UAPA, getting bail is impossible. I had even raised this issue during the last Parliament session and demanded scrapping of UAPA Act."
Apoorvanand, Professor in Delhi University who was also present at the press conference, said that the Uttar Pradesh Police has filed a chargesheet of 5,000 pages, but the same was not provided to them.
He said the student organisation Campus Front of India leaders decided to show solidarity with the family's quest for justice. "Every citizen of India has the right to show solidarity with victims and their families. During Kappan's arrest the UP Police said he is not a journalist but now in their chargesheet the police had stated that the kind of journalism he has been doing for the last several years is favourable to the Muslim community, inciting Muslim people against the country. It means UP Police has accepted that he was a journalist."
Sanchita Rehman, wife of Atiqur Rehman, who was also present on the occasion, said, "In the last one year we have made several appeals that he should be taken to AIIMS for his treatment as doctors have already said but UP police did not listen to us. Today, I would request the people of India to support us. My husband did nothing wrong but he was falsely implicated by the UP government."