Being “well qualified” to commit what the government considers an offence, and a belief that a person will “surely act against the peaceful atmosphere”, appear enough to arrest people under the stringent Public Safety Act in Kashmir.
Among the grounds the administration has cited for booking journalist Sajad Gul under the PSA, which allows detention without trial for up to six months, are his “being well qualified” to “brainwash” people and it “being easy for you (Gul) to manipulate people”.
Some of the other reasons are his likelihood of getting bail from a court, his “negative critique” of the Jammu and Kashmir government’s policies, and his being “anti-national”.
Gul, a trainee reporter with the Kashmir Walla news website, was arrested on January 6 and booked under the PSA on January 16, a day after a court in Bandipora granted him bail in another case but before he could be released.
“Besides, it is easy for you to manipulate people of valley towards your ill intentions as you are well qualified and can brainwash people easily against government established by law,” reads the dossier against him, signed by Bandipora deputy commissioner Sheikh Owais Ahmad.
“His activities are prejudicial to the security and sovereignty of the country” and if he is kept free, he will “surely act against the peaceful atmosphere” that has been established by the “tireless efforts of the law enforcing agencies”, the dossier adds.
Gul, who has been pursuing a master’s in journalism from the Central University of Kashmir, was arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy after he allegedly posted a video of a family shouting anti-government slogans over the killing of a son, a militant.
On January 15, the judicial magistrate of Sumbal granted him bail but he was booked under the PSA the next day in this and several other cases and later shifted to Jammu’s Kot Bhalwal jail.
One of the stated grounds for his detention under the PSA is that he was “less reporting about the welfare” of Jammu and Kashmir and, instead, was promoting “enmity”.
“You being well educated use (sic) social media as a tool to provoke people against the government establishments. Since internet has made the world a global village and you use it as a tool by making statements on social media which causes mischief and promote enmity,” the dossier reads.
“You are presently under police remand and there is every apprehension that you may get bailed out from the Hon’ble Court of law thus will prove fatal for peaceful atmosphere, tranquillity, law and order of the nation, as your release at this stage will be a threat not only for Bandipora area but for the whole valley.”
The dossier calls Gul a self-proclaimed “Messiah of Terrorists” and “anti-national” and, to prove his “criminal intent”, gives details of three FIRs filed against him.
In the first case, lodged last year, Gul is accused of obstructing a drive to remove illegal encroachments. Gul had filed a report citing allegations by villagers that a revenue official was “harassing” and threatening them for opposing the demolition. After the FIR was registered, Gul had tweeted that police “wants to criminalise journalists in Bandipora & stop them from factual reporting”.
In another case, he was accused of “spreading false and fake narrative” at the behest of Pakistani handlers after he allegedly posted a video of purported militant Imtiyaz Ahmad Dar’s family protesting his killing in a “fake gunfight”. The police have in the dossier offered no evidence of Gul’s links with any Pakistani handler.
In the third case, Gul was booked this month for posting a video of the family of slain militant Salim Parrey chanting anti-government slogans. This is the case in which he was arrested on January 6.
The New York-based media watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists, has sought Gul’s immediate release.
The police have arrested, booked or summoned dozens of journalists in Kashmir as part of a crackdown on dissent since the 2019 revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood and special status.
