New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Thursday expressed happiness that "eventually Article 21 of the Constitution has triumphed" as Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan walked out of jail after over two years. Article 21 of the Constitution deals with the right to the protection of life and personal liberty. Kappan was released from Lucknow district jail Thursday morning, a day after the sureties required for his bail was submitted in court.
He and three others were arrested in October 2020 while on their way to Hathras where a Dalit woman died allegedly after being raped. They were accused of trying to instigate violence over the death of the Hathras woman. Reacting to Kappan's release, Chidambaram said, "I am glad that eventually Article 21 of the Constitution has triumphed and Siddique Kappan, the journalist from Kerala, is free." "Trial Court judges must push back on the demand for judicial custody which is really pre-trial incarceration," the former home minister said.