Police claim Aasif Sultan had helped militants involved in 12 August Batamaloo attack near Srinagar & chargesheet will be filed in 2 weeks.
New Delhi: Young Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan has spent 80 days in jail after being arrested for his alleged links to militants, but his family alleges Sultan has been kept under “illegal detention”.
Earlier this week, he filed a fresh bail plea but that too was rejected by a local court.
While the police claim to have found “incriminating evidence” against him, his family denies this charge, saying he is “101 per cent innocent” and that they will consult a lawyer about the future course of action in the case.
Sultan, whose bail has been rejected multiple times since his arrest from his Batamaloo house in Srinagar on the night of 27 August, continues to be lodged in Srinagar’s Central Jail.
Police’s claim
The J&K police had arrested Sultan — an assistant editor of a local magazine, Kashmir Narrator — on charges of “conspiracy”, “support” as well as for allegedly “harbouring terrorists”.
Sultan was named in the FIR filed in connection with an encounter in Srinagar’s Batamaloo area on 12 August. He was booked under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, said the police.
The police allegedly seized some “gadgets and diaries” during the search of his house.
“If our evidence was not strong enough, the court would have given him bail. We have two main proofs against him, one of which was recovered from his home,” a senior police officer told ThePrint.
The police officer also claimed that days before his arrest, four people had been nabbed, two of whom disclosed information about Sultan.
“As per our investigation, Sultan helped the militants involved in the Batamaloo incident, in which one policeman was killed, besides the attack on a CRPF party near Pampoori on 24 July, which left one CRPF personnel dead,” said the police officer.
Police claim they had been after Sultan much before these incidents took place. They had contacted his editor through an email after a cover story on slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was published in his magazine on 1 July.
Asked why the police have not filed the chargesheet yet, the police officer quoted above said it will be filed in the next two weeks.
“Aasif has been booked under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 Act which was amended in 2008. It is the court which has not granted him the bail,” a highly-placed source in the J&K police told ThePrint.
“His case is not simple. We are banking on a very strong channel of investigation and have credible prima facie evidence against him,” the source added.
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Family’s allegations
Sultan’s father, Mohammad Sultan Sayed, rejects the police claims. “Usko bas phasaya gaya hain (he has been entrapped). My son is 101 per cent innocent,” Mohammad Sultan Sayed told ThePrint.
“He has been arrested only for his journalism. He wrote an article on Burhan Wani, following which this witch-hunt began,” Sayed said.
Police had seized five cellphones, a laptop and two e-books by non-Indian authors from Sultan’s house, according to the family.
Sayed alleges that Sultan has been placed under “illegal detention”.
“On 31 August evening, the police made me sign some papers, saying that Sultan will be handed over to us. Then I was told to come the next day as the SP was not there,” Sayed added.
Sultan’s article sparked a row
Eight days before the second death anniversary of the young Hizbul commander, Sultan published his article, ‘The rise of Burhan Wani’ that grabbed the attention of the police.
‘Why is Burhan proving more dangerous in his grave than in his living room? Kashmir Narrator revisits the young rebel’s life to know the answers,’ the article read.
Sultan had quoted a few former “overground workers” (OGWs), who had allegedly helped the militant group, in the cover story.
The police accused Sultan of “roaming” around with OGWs on the pretext of carrying out his journalistic duties.
Following this, the editor of the magazine, Showkat A. Motta received an email from the “media cell/ CID J&K”, seeking his response to certain queries.
Days before Sultan’s house was searched, the Kashmir Narrator‘s Twitter account was blocked. “@KashmirNarrator’s account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand,” reads its Twitter handle now.
Also read: Militant snipers add grisly new chapter to Kashmir insurgency with three kills
Interrogation
While the police claim to have found some “solid evidence” against Sultan, his family says that he was questioned about the stories he wrote, beats he covered and his ideology.
“Why don’t you report on development instead?” was one of the questions asked, Sultan’s father said.
“He told them, ‘What should I report on development in Srinagar. There has been only one flyover in last 18 years; do I write that…They asked him about his ideology as well,” Sayed said.
‘Attack on press freedom’
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York based non-profit, has expressed concern about what it calls the “arbitrary detention” of Sultan.
“Aasif has been subject to repeated interrogation by police in detention. Police has demanded that Aasif reveal the sources for a cover story that he wrote for the magazine on Burhan Wani,” the editor of Kashmir Narrator, Showkat A. Motta, was quoted as saying by the Asia Desk of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
“Police have also pressured Sultan to become an informer,” CPJ said in its statement.
It also demanded immediate release of the journalist from jail. “Police should…halt efforts to pressure him to reveal sources or become an informer,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia programme coordinator.
“By reporting on militant activity, Sultan is performing an important public service, not committing a crime,” Butler added.
The Kashmir Working Journalist Association and the Kashmir Journalist Association have also issued a joint statement, calling for Sultan’s release and an investigation into his alleged “illegal detention”.