Arrests – Journalist

Mushtaq Ahmad Ganai, 34, is a prominent journalist and works for the Srinagar-based English daily, Kashmir Observer. He alleged that police from the station in Sumbal area of north Kashmir’s Bandipore district hurled invective at him, seized his car, and confiscated his mobile phone and other essential belongings. Subsequently, the authorities slapped serious charges against him which included “violating the lockdown rules” and “interfering in the professional work of the officials”, a senior police officer said. They also filed a First Information Report (FIR) against him.

Around 4 p.m. on April 11, Ganai was arrested. He spent the next two days in the police station. He could not contact his family for several hours because his phone was seized. Only by late in the evening, he was allowed to inform his family members, who then started legal proceedings to move a bail application for his release the next morning.

“Even when my family got the bail for me from Sumbal court, I was not allowed to go. I had to again wait for the SHO to arrive,” Ganai said, adding that he had tried to convince the police officers that media persons were also performing their duty to report various developments about the ongoing pandemic.