Jammu and Kashmir police arrested the editor of an Urdu daily late on Monday night in a nearly three-decade-old case, the midnight knock prompting allegations that the authorities were out to muzzle the press in the Valley.

A court in Srinagar granted bail to Ghulam Jeelani Qadri, 62, after the Kashmir Editors Guild approached it.

A police officer said Qadri, editor of the daily Afaaq, was arrested in a case registered in 1990 under the now-defunct Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.

The charge against the journalist was he had defied the due process of law and was evading arrest.

Earlier, in February, the authorities had stopped advertisements to two prominent English dailies, apparently as part of a hardline stand following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack. The state has been under central rule since last year.

Qadri’s brother Morifat, also a journalist, said the police knocked around 11.30pm. “They dragged him out of the house and did not allow him to change or take his medicines along. They said there was an old case against him,” Morifat told The Telegraph. “Today, they did it with us; tomorrow, they will do it with somebody else.”

The 1990 case had been filed against Qadri and seven other journalists, three of whom have since died. A court in 1992 had issued a non-bailable warrant but there were no arrests.

Morifat said the case had been filed against local newspapers for carrying press releases issued by militants. “No newspapers were published for four to five months (then) in protest.”

The Kashmir Union of Working Journalists wondered at the timing of the execution of a warrant issued 27 years ago. “Qadri was attending office daily and there was absolutely no need for a midnight raid at his residence,” a spokesman said.

The Kashmir Editors Guild asked why Qadri had been singled out for allegedly “defying the due process of law in a case he is not aware about”.

“Qadri said he does not know how and why he was declared a proclaimed offender. The case is curious because the same police station had verified and attested the antecedents of the editor for issuance of passport twice in the last 30 years,” a Guild spokesman said.

The spokesman claimed the police had failed to even produce the records of the case. “The court has directed the police to explain how they investigated the case in the last three decades.”

The midnight swoop came as the Kashmir Press Club, formed last year, was preparing for its maiden election on June 29, triggering allegations that the authorities were trying to interfere in the polls.

An editor said Qadri’s name had come up as a possible contestant for the post of president. “The following night he was arrested. What does it show?”

The elections have been deferred indefinitely.