Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said that the amended draconian law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) is a menace to democracy. Tharoor made these comments on the release of Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan. “The release of Siddique Kappan after 28 months in jail reminds us that UAPA allows Govt to detain people indefinitely without charge. It took the Supreme Court to finally reaffirm ‘bail not jail’. The amended UAPA is a menace to democracy, as I warned when opposing its introduction in LS,” said Tharoor in a tweet.

He said when Siddique Kappan asked for reading material in jail he was offered only books in Hindi, a language he does not know, and denied books in English or Malayalam, the only languages he can read. In the land of Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi), is this the level of our humanity? he asked.

On Thursday, Siddique Kappan, a Muslim journalist from Kerala, left jail after more than 851 days after being detained by the Uttar Pradesh Police while en route to the Hathras residence of a young Dalit woman who was gang-raped and murdered by upper-caste Hindu men.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP