A new hardline promise by outgoing Jammu and Kashmir police chief Rashmi Ranjan Swain has hit a legal hurdle after a court in Jammu granted bail to a man booked under the stringent Enemy Agents Ordinance (EAO).

Swain, who is retiring on September 30 but was virtually snubbed by the central and Union Territory governments in the run-up to his retirement, had vowed a new hardline against militancy during his controversial tenure, which included an announcement last month to book alleged militant supporters under the EAO.

People have occasionally been booked under the EAO in Jammu and Kashmir but the director-general of police has suggested it will be frequently invoked and it will be more difficult for the accused to get bail, triggering an outcry.

However, the principal district and sessions judge Jammu, Sanjay Parihar, has granted bail to Kishtwar resident Abdul Wahid, who was booked under the EAO in 2022 and has not been released since then.

The judge said until the enemy was identified and his location was disclosed, it could not be presumed that the accused was acting as an “agent” of the enemy.

A court order, issued on August 13 but made public on Saturday, has now raised questions about the outgoing DGP’s hardline rhetoric.