The Allahabad High Court has granted bail to student leader Masood Ahmed in connection with the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act case related to the Hathras gangrape in which journalist Siddique Kappan is an accused person.
A bench headed by Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi, in its order on March 12, noted that Ahmed had been in jail since October 5, 2020, and that the other accused persons had been granted bail. The High Court, however, said that it was not commenting on the merits of the case.
Ahmed was arrested in October 2020 along with Kappan, Mohammad Alam and PhD scholar Atikur Rahman while they were travelling to Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, where a Dalit woman was allegedly gangraped and killed by four upper-caste Thakur men on September 14, 2020.
The Uttar Pradesh Police booked the four accused men under sedition charges and provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
In February 2021, the Enforcement Directorate filed a case against them under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The central agency had claimed that the four men had received money from the now-banned Popular Front of India to “incite riots”.
In December 2022, a special National Investigation Agency court in Lucknow had denied bail to Ahmed. The student leader had moved the Allahabad High Court challenging the order.
Ahmed’s counsel submitted that the student leader had no allegation against him that he was associated with any terrorist organisation, or that he had any links with the Popular Front of India or its student wing, the Campus Front of India.
The counsel added that no incriminating article had been recovered from him.
Additional Advocate General Shiv Nath Tilhari, for the Uttar Pradesh government, said that the special court had rejected Ahmed’s bail application because of his association with the Popular Front of India. Tilhari added that the organisation was involved in terrorist activities in the country and was trying to create unrest by spreading caste and religious animosity.
The High Court, however, said that the special court failed to take into the account the material on record, and granted bail to Ahmed.
On September 9, 2022, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Kappan in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act case, while on December 23, the Allahabad High Court gave him bail in the money laundering case too. However, despite the bail orders, Kappan remained in jail for over a month due to bureaucratic delays. He was eventually released on February 2.
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