The Supreme Court on Monday granted Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan's request to relax the bail condition requiring him to appear at a police station in Uttar Pradesh every week.

A bench consisting of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Sandeep Mehta modified the condition established in the Supreme Court's September 2022 bail order concerning Siddique Kappan's case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

In September 2022, the Supreme Court granted bail to Siddique Kappan in a case filed against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Kappan, a reporter for the Malayalam news portal Azhimukham and secretary of the Delhi unit of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), was arrested in October 2020 while en route to Hathras to report on the gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl, along with three others.

The prosecution alleged that Kappan intended to incite unrest in Hathras and was involved in collecting funds to operate a website promoting misinformation and violence. The state also claimed that he had close ties to the extremist organization Popular Front of India (PFI) and was part of a broader conspiracy to sow religious discord and spread terror in the country.

In addition to UAPA charges, Kappan faced allegations of money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and had been incarcerated in Lucknow jail since December 2020. He was denied bail by lower courts and the Allahabad High Court before the Supreme Court finally granted him relief in September 2022. He received bail in the PMLA case from the Allahabad High Court in December 2022 and was released from Lucknow Central Jail in February 2023.

Kappan's current application for relaxation of bail conditions was filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap, with advocates Haris Beeran and Azhar Asees representing him.

The State of Uttar Pradesh was represented by Senior Additional Advocate General Sharan Dev Singh Thakur, along with advocates Ruchira Goel, Sharanya Sinha, and Harshita Nigam.