Arrests – Journalists

Fahad Shah, the founder and editor-in-chief of The Kashmir Walla, has completed two months in custody that revolved in four police stations across the valley — and, finally, in jail in north Kashmir.

Shah was first arrested on 4 February evening by the Pulwama police under India’s anti-terror law – Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and sedition for The Kashmir Walla’s reporting of events at a gunfight. The special court under NIA Act granted him bail on 26 February. He was subsequently arrested by the Shopian police in a case registered in January 2021 against the news magazine’s reporting. He was bailed out on 5 March by the magistrate … only to be re-arrested in the evening by the Srinagar police for a case registered two years ago, in July 2020.

Amid a lasting arrest-bail-arrest-bail saga — before the bail hearing in the final case — Shah was detained under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA). The Jammu and Kashmir PSA allows authorities to detain a person for up to two years without formal charges or a trial. Shah is currently lodged in the Kupwara Jail, nearly a hundred kilometers away from his home.