The Kashmir Walla Editor Fahad Shah.
(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Fahad Shah)

Journalist Fahad Shah was on Saturday, 5 March, re-arrested in a third case, soon after he was granted bail by a Shopian court, his lawyer Umair Ronga confirmed to The Quint. The Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested Shah in connection with a third FIR, filed against him in 2020, before he could be released.

Shah is presently lodged at the Safakadal police station in Srinagar.

This is the third time Shah has been arrested in a span of one month. In the third FIR, Shah has been charged 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.

Speaking to The Quint, his lawyer dubbed the arrest as an attempt to deter his reportage. Further, Ronga said:

“If he was not required for so long in such FIRs, then why now. This FIR is totally based on his journalistic reportage. The report has been submitted, it is in public, I don’t feel there is any need for any custodial interrogation or any other such sort of investigation.”

Ronga also informed that they will be applying for a bail in this case on Monday.

Fahad Shah is the editor-in-chief The Kashmir Walla, a digital magazine reporting on socio-cultural issues from J&K, and was first arrested after the police registered a case against him in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. He was arrested on Friday, 4 February, and charged under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly sharing social media posts with “anti-national” content with “criminal intention” that aimed to disturb law and order.

He was granted bail on 26 February in the UAPA case, only to be arrested again in a second FIR filed by the J&K Police.

The second arrest was in a different case, the FIR for which had been filed under Sections 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.

‘Hope He Joins Us Back in the Newsroom Soon’

The Kashmir Walla, in a statement on Shah’s arrest, pointed out that granting bail on Saturday, the Shopian magistrate had said:

“In a barbaric society you can hardly ask for bail, in a civilized society you can hardly refuse it. In other words, ‘bail is a rule and its refusal is an exception’.”

Further sharing that they hope Shah joins them back in the newsroom soon, the organisation said:

“The Kashmir Walla team continue to repose the faith in judiciary and the supremacy of law. The team continues to stand strongly behind Fahad and his family in this time of distress as we reiterate our appeal to Manoj Sinha-led Jammu and Kashmir administration for the immediate release of Fahad.”
This article first appeared on thequint.com