Srinagar: Kashmiri Journalist Fahad Shah and editor of the news website, The Kashmir Walla has completed one year in jail after being arrested and re-arrested thrice in three separate cases and slapped by PSA (Public Safety Act) for allegedly ‘glorying militancy and uploading anti-India content’ as per the J&K Police.
Shah was first arrested on February 4, 2022, when The Kashmir Walla reported the family version of an encounter (military operation against militants) in Pulwama’s naira after the NIA court granted bail to Shah in this case. He was arrested again in an old case in Shopian’s Imam Sahib. Later he was granted bail and arrested again in another old case in Srinagar’s Safa Kadal.
While the journalist received bail in the last two cases, he was slapped with the PSA while awaiting a hearing in the third.
All three cases were related to the stories his organization broke about military operations in south Kashmir’s Pulwama, Shopian, and Srinagar city’s Safa kadal area.
The Jammu and Kashmir police accused him of “uploading ant-national content” on Facebook.
On 12 March 2022, the authorities dropped the rioting, attempted murder, and abetment charges against Shah. However, authorities also pressed additional charges against Shah under UAPA and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act.
The Jammu and Kashmir Public Security Act (PSA) is preventive detention legislation that allows the authorities to detain a person without trial for up to two to three years. Under it, none of the regular safeguards that are assured to an accused under the criminal justice system apply.
The Public Safety Act (PSA) dossier against the prominent journalist accuses him of “having radical ideology right from your childhood”, and not reporting on stories “related to good governance, or positive intervention by” the Indian government.
“There have been many occasions when you have promoted separatism through your articles, tweets, and social media posts, thus clearly trying to advance your radical ideology,” the dossier reads.
“You have been found guilty of misguiding the common masses by circulating fake news against the government and its policies. A journalist lifts the curtains of darkness but you are always trying to bring the people in dark by misrepresenting facts,” the PSA dossier reads further.