Dead or alive?

It was not an honest thing to do but considering the circumstances they did it nevertheless. Without his usual daily phone calls, Siddique Kappan’s old mother was on the verge of a breakdown. So his family decided on a ruse. “Whenever Siddique’s mother wanted to talk to her son, we would seek the help of a family member whose voice resembles Siddique’s. He would mimic Siddique’s voice and talk to her over the phone,” says Kappan’s wife Reihanath.

The Delhi-based journalist was arrested on October 5 while on his way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh to report the alleged gang rape and murder of a dalit girl. He was picked up along with two workers of Campus Front of India. “We have not told Siddique’s mother that he is in jail because we do not know how she would react. We were greatly relieved when he called her on November 2. At last, that was when we came to know he was at least alive,” she says.

But one call was not enough for the mother who used to receive her son’s call four to five times a day. “She asks us to tell Bava (Kappan) to come back and we are finding it difficult to pacify her,” says Reihanath.

“Siddique called me the night before his arrest. He didn’t say anything about going to Hathras, probably because the journey was not decided at the time. He spoke about the construction of the house that is going on here. His mobile phone has been switched off since then,” she says.

The family had a harrowing time for more than a month as there was no news about him. “We know how callous the UP police are, especially when dealing with certain communities. Stories on police brutalities from North India gave us sleepless nights,” Reihanath said.

Kappan has been booked on charges of sedition, promoting enmity between religions, and under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He has worked as a journalist in Delhi for the past nine years.

“Before that, Siddique was in the Gulf and he left the job after the death of his father in 2011,” Reihanath says.

She says that Kappan, who has a girl child, used to get upset over reports on sexual abuse of girls. “While he was in Malappuram on leave, he did a story on sexual exploitation of girls at a palliative care centre. The accused were are all Muslims. Still, they say Siddique went to Hathras because the accused belonged to a particular religion,” she says.

The woman has knocked on many doors to get justice for her husband. “I met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, MP, at Wayanad and asked him to intervene. But I lost hope as there were no follow up actions from his part,” she says. Reihanath believes that the police allowed Kappan to make the phone call from the jail as a result of the legal battle. “We have apprised the Supreme Court that Kappan was not allowed to contact even his advocate,” she says.

Advocate Wills Mathews, who is appearing for Kappan on behalf of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) also got a call from Kappan on November 17. “I got the call around 4pm and it took me some time to recognize that it was Kappan. I asked a few questions to ensure that it is indeed him,” the lawyer says. “He sounded bold and confident during the conversation. He said there are a lot of discrepancies in police records. It is mentioned in the documents that Kappan was arrested at 4.50pm but the actual arrest took place at 10.20am. I could not talk much as the phone got disconnected after five minutes,” he says.

“My priority was to ensure safety to Kappan’s life. We know that it would be difficult to get bail as it is a UAPA case,” the advocate says.

U M Muqthar, a journalist who worked with Kappan for years in Delhi, says Kappan is not an activist-journalist. “Kappan is a reserved type. He was putting up at the guest house of SDPI while he was with the daily, Thejas. He continued to live there even after the closure of the daily,” says Muqthar. “I don’t know whether he is a member of the SDPI or not. He went to Hathras along with Campus Front workers because they were on a fact-finding mission. It is not uncommon for journalists, who do not have the means to arrange their own vehicle, to go with other groups,” Muqthar says.

Human rights activists and journalists are continuing their efforts to get political parties involved in getting justice for Kappan. “We have twice submitted a memorandum to the Kerala chief minister on the same demand. We have also sent letters to all the ministers and the assembly speaker, as well as all MPs from the state,” says Sreeja Neyyattinkara, convener of the Siddique Kappan Solidarity Committee. “We couldn’t meet the chief minister in person because of Covid-19 protocol. The response we got from his office was not very encouraging. We were told that the state government’s intervention will not yield any results,” she says.

Equally distressing was the reaction from Congress. “Rahul Gandhi had promised that he will hand over the memorandum to Priyanka Gandhi, who is in charge of Uttar Pradesh. But the party, which is the opposition in UP, didn’t do anything in the case. We know the fight for justice in the age of fascism is arduous and time-consuming, but we have not lost hope,” says Sreeja.