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Kashmir journalist Asif Sultan awarded bail in Srinagar jail arson case
Asif Sultan, 35, was arrested by Jammu and Kashmir Ppolice on February 29, 2024 in connection with the 2019 case, just two days after he completed a five-and-a-half year term in another case
Kashmir journalist Asif Sultan, who has spent time behind bars after being charged in two different cases and a detention order since August 2018, was granted bail by Jammu and Kashmir high court in the Srinagar Central Jail arson case. He has, however, was asked not to use encrypted mobile messaging applications.
Sultan, 35, was arrested by Srinagar police on February 29, 2024 in connection with the 2019 case, just two days after he completed a five-and-a-half year term in another case.
A special judge designated under National Investigation Agency Act in Srinagar granted Sultan bail, citing a string of conditions including a ban on the use of encrypted messaging apps and VPN. He would also have to disclose the details of his cell phone device to be used by him (IMEI number and make etc) to the investigating officer and SHO of the police station concerned.
“There can be no dispute at all that so far as the investigation into allegations of commission of offence under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 is concerned, that there is compelling state interest in tackling such serious crimes. However, mere use of this statutory provision would not ipso-facto warrant rejection of applications of bail ignoring the other binding requirements,” the order, which was announced on May 10, read.
Sultan, an assistant editor with the now-defunct monthly magazine Kashmir Narrator, is facing the allegations in a case registered at the Rainawari police station. He and other jail inmates at Central Jail Srinagar were accused of setting ablaze a few barracks, raising anti-national slogans and pelting stones at jail officials on April 4, 2019. Sultan’s counsel pleaded that the accused was not present at the place of occurrence, arguing, “How could a person commit a crime when he is already going through the detention?”
The court said the accused has been in custody for the last 72 days, adding, “The fact that the recovery has been made from the place of occurrence and sent to FSL and most of the investigation has been completed, the interest of justice will be served in case the applicant is admitted to bail, at this stage.”
The court ordered that Sultan furnish a bail bond to the tune of ₹1 lakh each with one surety in the like amount.
Sultan was arrested from his home in Batamaloo in August 2018. The state had maintained that his activities were allegedly “highly prejudicial to the security of the state”. His family, however, has denied the allegations, saying he was “arrested for his journalistic work” particularly after he wrote an article on slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, who was shot dead by security forces in 2016.
In April 2022, Sultan was granted bail by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, but was detained again immediately under the PSA on April 2, 2022. A single judge bench on December 7, 2023, granted the relief and quashed his PSA and he was released on Feb 27, 2024, from Ambedkar Nagar jail in Uttar Pradesh.
While under detention, he was awarded the annual John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award by the National Press Club of America in 2019.
