After facing revolving door arrest in three cases in the past 39 days, journalist Fahad Shah, 33, also editor of popular portal the ‘Kashmir Walla’, was on Monday booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), under which a person can be detained without a trial for two years.
“Sensing that the honourable Special Court may grant bail as the allegations levelled against the accused [Mr. Shah] do not prima facie connect him with the commission of any offence, the authorities have taken recourse to the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act,” Mr. Shah’s lawyer Umair Ronga said.
Mr. Shah, who was arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on February 4 by the Pulwama police for a report on an encounter in south Kashmir, was granted bail by the local court twice on February 26 and March 5. However, he was arrested immediately in two separate First Information Reports (FIRs) lodged in Shopian and Srinagar.
“Mr. Shah was booked under Sections 147 [rioting], 307 [attempt to murder], 109 [abetment], 501 [printing or engraving defamatory matter], and 505 [public mischief] of the Indian Penal Code. However, in the report that the police filed in the court for his latest bail application [on March 11], the authorities noted that during the investigation three charges — i.e. IPC Sections 109, 147, and 307 — were dropped. It remains unclear when the [fresh] charges under the UAPA were added,” the Kashmir Walla said in a statement.
Mr. Shah’s associates said the journalist was shifted from a Srinagar jail on Monday to a jail in north Kashmir’s Kupwara, around 85 km away from the city.
Mr. Shah, founder of the Kashmir Walla and contributor to the Foreign Affairs, the TIME and the Foreign Policy, was awarded the prestigious 25th Human Rights Press Awards 2021 in explanatory feature writing for his coverage of Delhi communal violence in February 2020.
“We continue to repose faith in judiciary and the supremacy of law. As the team stands by Fahad and his family, we reiterate our appeal to Manoj Sinha-led Jammu and Kashmir administration for his immediate release,” a statement from the magazine read.
Comment: Kashmir Press Club | A watchdog silenced
Wanted in three cases
According to the police, Mr. Shah was wanted in three cases for “glorifying terrorism, spreading fake news and inciting general public for creating law and order situations” in Srinagar, Shopian and Pulwama.
At least 50 press freedom organisations, human rights groups and publications on February 14 wrote to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and demanded immediate release of Mr. Shah. They also sought “the withdrawal of all police investigations launched into his journalistic work.”
