Citing rights’ violation, Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra urges high court to quash FIR
Srinagar, August 22
Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, senior PDP leader and close aide of former CM Mehbooba Mufti, has approached the J&K High Court (HC) for quashing of an FIR of the UT Police against him, citing violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution and “sameness” of the charges also being probed by the NIA.
In the petition, Parra’s counsel Shariq Reyaz submitted that his client was investigated for the same offences by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as well as the Counter Intelligence (Kashmir) wing of the police separately, which is in violation of laid down norms under the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul, after hearing arguments on the petition challenging the framing of charges in the police case by a designated court last month, had issued notice to the Counter Intelligence (Kashmir), or the CIK, last week for filing its response within a month.
Reyaz drew a table in his petition of the two FIRs and two chargesheets filed by the NIA and the CIK to draw similarities in the offences. The counsel also mentioned that the FIR by the CIK is “clearly tainted with the vice of malice in law, having been registered only to attain a collateral purpose of detaining the petitioner (Parra) illegally and unlawfully being in blatant abuse of police power, violating with impunity the constitutional guarantees guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”
Reyaz also challenged the sanction for prosecution, a mandatory requirement under the UAPA, given by the J&K Home Secretary saying under the Reorganisation of J&K Act of 2018, law and order is a subject of the Centre and the officer concerned is not competent to issue any such order.
The designated court in July had framed terror charges against Parra on a police chargesheet claiming that he was an asset for Pakistan-based terror groups and that his 13-year journey as a journalist and politician from 2007 was a “saga of subterfuge, deceit and double-dealing”. — PTI
PDP leader’s contention
- PDP leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra says same charges are being investigated by two agencies, violating the CrPC norms
- His plea mentions that the Counter Intelligence (Kashmir) FIR is aimed at detaining him illegally in blatant abuse of power
- A court recently framed terror charges against him on a police chargesheet claiming that he was an asset for terror groups
