"Lawlessness or anarchy:" Siddique Kappan registers protest over delay in receiving chargesheet, seeks default bail

Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan has opposed an application moved by the State for taking a further statement from him, terming the same as an abuse of court process.

. The reply filed by Kappan also urged the Court to grant him default bail on the ground that he is in a critical condition and in need of immediate hospitalisation.

. Among other contentions, Kappan's reply also claimed that he is yet to receive a chargesheet in the case against him from the State, despite the Solicitor General of India's submission in the Supreme Court that the same was submitted to all the accused before April 27, 2021.

. The same amounts to misleading the Supreme Court and is a serious violation of Kappan's fundamental rights under Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty), stated the reply.

. In this regard, it was also noted that an application filed for the supply of the chargesheet is still pending. In the said Section 207 CrPC application, it was earlier submitted that while he managed to obtain a copy of the chargesheet from the counsel of another accused, the same was found to have serious defects.

. It was further highlighted that Kappan has now been in custody for over nine months without an opportunity to defend himself. It is the right of the accused (Kappan) to get a clear, legible, translated copy of the chargesheet and connected material free of cost, the reply stated.

. The latest reply was filed through Kappan's counsel, advocate Wills Mathews.

. It also noted that following an application by the State, Kappan's voice and handwriting sample has also been collected. In an earlier reply to the said application, Kappan had also claimed that his life would be at risk if his voice/ handwriting samples were collected in Lucknow.

. Highlights of Kappan's contentions in his replies and pending Section 207, CrPC application . 1. Reply to State's August 2, 2021 application for recording further statement

. The application filed by the police/STF is illegal, not maintainable, an abuse of the process of the court, and an insult to the rule of law. The application may be dismissed with costs of ₹ 55, 000 or any other responsible amount, Kappan added.

The handwriting of the accused has been collected by the State in the presence of Kappan's counsel.

Even after 10 months since his arrest, the accused has not received a copy of chargesheet from the State.

If the version of the police/ State Task Force (STF) is true, the chargesheet was filed on April 2, 2021. This means four months have already passed after the filing of the chargesheet, while the accused is still waiting to get a copy and is languishing in jail with failing health.

This is a major violation of Kappan's fundamental rights and a gross violation of the procedure established by law. This amounts to a kind of “ lawlessness or anarchy” and is a threat to the rule of law. The Mathura court has a solemn duty to report this to the Allahabad High Court so that this is not repeated in the future.

Despite specific directions of the Supreme Court in a related matter, Kappan was discharged from hospital without proper treatment leading to the contempt of court proceedings , on which legal notice was issued in May 2021 to the State/ Uttar Pradesh Police "with no results so far."

Referring to the State's earlier submission before the Supreme Court that all the accused had received a copy of the chargesheet, Kappan asserted that the same is an absolutely false statement and seriously affects the credibility of the prosecution and the faith of the people in the rule of law.

. 2. On alleged failure to supply Chargesheet

. Two applications have been made under Section 207 (supply to the accused of copy of police report and other documents) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). One application was made on May 17, 2021 and another on July 21, 2021.

Kappan has alleged on July 14, he had raised the issue before the Mathura court, but the Section 207, CrPC application sought to be moved was not taken on record. Instead, it is stated that the Court merely orally enquired about the same with the Public Prosecutor who said that Kappan's counsel can take the same from a co-accused. Despite the prayers on July 14, no copies of the chargesheet or related documents have been supplied till date.

A letter petition for supply of chargesheet was also filed before the Allahabad High Court on June 3, it is stated.

In the meanwhile, on enquiries, Kappan came to know that the chargesheet was delivered to others accused on July 12, 2021.

The chargesheet (obtained from another co-accused) was found to be with serious defects including that there was no list of relied upon documents, no list of statements, no list of articles, no list of electronic evidence, no document numbers, pagination, description of particulars for any of the documents, no master index, no continuous or internal pagination, many pages were completely illegible, many were cut, call detail records are completely illegible, bank account statements were illegible, no seizure or producing or handing over memos for documents appeared to be on the record, there was no clone of electronic devices seized etc. Based on this chargesheet, no legal work is possible, Kappan submitted. This seriously prejudices the rights of the accused and violates the procedure established by law, affects the right to speedy trial and the dignity of the accused as he is in jail, it was contended.

In short, it was asserted that Kappan is not in receipt of the chargesheet and connected documents/ statement/s articles/ electronic evidence even after the same was filed in the Mathura Court on April 3.

In his July 21 application, Kappan has prayed for a clear, legible copy of the chargesheet to be supplied along with all other relevant statements, documents, articles, clones of electronic records, along with translation of all documents into English to Kappan.

. Kappan, a reporter for Malayalam news portal Azhimukham and secretary of the Kerala Union of Working Journalist's Delhi unit, was arrested along with three others in Uttar Pradesh in October while on his way to Hathras to report on the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl.

. They were later booked under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and also accused of sedition.

"Lawlessness or anarchy:" Siddique Kappan registers protest over delay in receiving chargesheet, seeks default bail

Meera Emmanuel

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