Hours after securing bail from a Shopian court and days after getting first bail from a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court for separate cases, journalist Fahad Shah, 33, was arrested for a third time on Saturday evening, his lawyer Omair Ronga said on Sunday.
Shah was granted bail by judicial magistrate S Qayoom in a case registered at Imam Sahib police station in south Kashmir’s Shopian, Ronga said.The charges were under Sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief ) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and 153 (rioting) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), he said.
“When his family reached Shopian, they were told that another police team from Srinagar was coming to arrest him. Following this, he was handed over to Safa Kadal police station, where a first information report (FIR) was registered against him under Sections 307(attempt to murder),147(punishment for rioting),109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment), 501(printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC,” he said.
Shopian police had arrested Shah and taken his custody from Pulwama police, hours after he was granted bail by a NIA court on February 26.
{{/usCountry}}Shopian police had arrested Shah and taken his custody from Pulwama police, hours after he was granted bail by a NIA court on February 26.
{{/usCountry}}Shah was first arrested on February 4. In the past four years, three FIRs were registered against Shah, who runs a news portal and magazine Kashmiri Walla, police said.
“Fahad Shah is wanted in three cases for glorifying terrorism, spreading fake news & inciting general public for creating L&O situations: FIR No. 70/2020 of PS Safakadal Srinagar, FIR No. 06/2021 of PS Imamsahib, Shopian & currently has been arrested in FIR No. 19/2022 of PS Pulwama (sic),” Vijay Kumar, inspector general of police, Kashmir range, had said.
“The cases have been filed because of his journalism.This is harassment and is aimed to set a deterrent against his reporting. They want only favourable reports,” Shah’s lawyer Ronga said. Repeated messages to SSP Srinagar Rakesh Balawal did not elicit any response.
“If he can get a bail in the UAPA [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act] case (filed at Pulwama), we are expecting that he will be granted bail in the other cases as well.There is nothing substantive in these cases and this will be proved in the trial,” he said.
In the case filed at Safa Kadal, Ronga said, Shah had reported on the Nawa Kadal encounter between security forces and terrorists when many houses had also caught fire.
“The reportage was about the damage done to the civilian properties. An operation was carried out there and whatever happened was reported as it was. They (police) added a defamatory section. How is that defamatory?” he asked.