Over 3 years after arrest, HC grants bail to student leader in Hathras conspiracy case

The Allahabad High Court has granted bail to student leader Masood Ahmed in the 2020 Hathras conspiracy case in which four people, including journalist Siddique Kappan, were charged under the UAPA, LiveLaw reported.

A bench of Justices Attau Rahman Masoodi and Ajai Kumar Srivastava considered the bail to the other accused and Masood’s prolonged custody before granting relief to Ahmed without offering any opinion on the case merits. 

Kappan was released last year. he  had been in jail since September 2020, when he was arrested under UAPA charges while going to Hathras to report on the rape case and subsequent death of a Dalit woman. He was granted bail in the case by the Supreme Court on September 9, 2022. But he remained in jail in connection with a PMLA case, filed against him and others by the Enforcement Directorate in February last year.

In September, 2022, the Supreme Court granted bail to the journalist in the UAPA case, stating that “every citizen has the right to free expression”. However, he was only granted bail in the PMLA case by the Allahabad High Court in December 2022.

His wife had earlier told Newslaundry that he was “beaten for knowing Arabic and studying in Jamia”.

Read all about the chargesheet here.