“My heart is my first court. There, I am innocent,” the journalist Siddique Kappan told The Caravan. “That is why I am happy that, for two years and four months, I stayed in jail. Not for my family, but for a girl from India who went through this.” Kappan was arrested, on 5 October 2020, while travelling from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh to report on the gang rape of a Dalit woman in Hathras. He was charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, among other stringent laws. After being released on 2 February, having spent almost twenty-eight months in jail, he gave his version of events to The Caravan.
“I didn’t even reach Hathras. Before Mathura, there was a toll plaza, Mant Toll Plaza. I was stopped there. I was stopped and asked, ‘You are a Muslim, why are you interested in this?’ I told them, ‘I’m not a Muslim, I’m a journalist. This is not a Hindu-Muslim issue, this is an issue about a woman’s honour, India’s honour,’” Kappan recounted. “Then some people from local intelligence came and they started questioning us. They came specifically for me. ‘Where is the journalist from Kerala?’ they said. I said, ‘I am the one.’ They took me to another room. They asked weird questions. ‘How many times have you been to Pakistan?’ ‘You know Zakir Naik?’ ‘How many times have you met him?’ ‘Do you eat beef?’ ‘Who sent you here?’ ‘Which CPM leader was it?’ With every question, they slapped me. With every question. And also hit me on the knee with a lathi. Till the next morning. They didn’t even allow me to sleep.”
“Journalism in India is now a crime,” Kappan continued. “I am a Muslim-it is a good ingredient for this. I am a journalist, that is also a good ingredient. I am a Keralite, even that is a good one. So, for a ‘terrorist biryani,’ these are good ingredients.”
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24 сен 2024
