Kappan and three others were arrested at a toll plaza in Mathura on October 5, 2020, when he was on his way to Hathras. According to the first information report filed by the UP police on October 7, Kappan has been charged under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), in addition to provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Information Technology Act.
Chargesheet The entire chargesheet – a copy of which hasn’t been given to all the three defence lawyers in the case – is split into 21 booklets. The pages with screenshots from the accused’s social media are in part 15. There is no daily diary note accompanying the 12 pages of screenshots, so it’s not clear why the UP STF included tweets by CFI’s general secretary Rouf Sharif, former editor of the newspaper Thejas Daily P Koya, and PFI member Masood Ahmed. The UP STF has not explained how tweets criticising the RSS, which is closely affiliated to the BJP, may be considered incriminatory or evidence of a conspiracy....
Investigative agencies are within their rights to show selected social media posts, but there is no clarity as to what the UP STF intends to establish with the screenshots that it has included in its chargesheet.
Krishnesh Bapat, CCG Fellow at the Internet Freedom Foundation, said, “The investigative agencies may rely on these posts even if they are not incriminatory. The law only requires the posts to be relevant to the proceedings. For example, in case the posts adduce motive to commit the alleged offence, they are relevant.”
Newslaundry’s ongoing series on the case against journalist Siddique Kappan. https://www.newslaundry.com/media/the-siddique-kappan-chargesheet