PhD scholar arrested over “seditious” article gets bail after nearly three years

A court in Jammu and Kashmir has granted bail to Abdul Aala Fazili, a PhD scholar who was arrested in 2022 for allegedly writing a “seditious” article in 2011. Fazili was detained in Srinagar by the State Investigation Agency (SIA) over an article titled ‘Shackles of Slavery Will Break’, which was published in the online magazine The Kashmir Walla. Fahad Shah, the magazine’s editor, was also arrested in connection with the article.

The 3rd Additional Sessions Judge (designated court under TADA/POTA/UAPA cases) in Jammu, while granting Fazili bail, noted that the applicant had been in custody for nearly two years and nine months. The judge observed that the evidence linking Fazili to the authorship of the article was weak. “If the applicant, due to weak evidence, is acquitted at the end of the trial, his period of incarceration would not be compensable by any means,” the court stated. The court concluded that this was a case where the accused should be released on bail at this stage of the trial.

Sources confirmed that Fazili, who had been detained in the Jammu region, has now been released and is back home in the Valley.

The SIA had claimed that Fazili’s article was “highly provocative, seditious, and intended to create unrest in Jammu and Kashmir,” accusing him of glorifying terrorism and attempting to incite the youth to engage in violence. However, the court’s order refuted these claims, stating that there was no incitement to violence or terrorism within the article. The court also pointed out that the government had not acted upon the article for over a decade, from its publication in 2011 until the registration of the FIR against Fazili in April 2022. This delay, the court noted, suggested that the article had not aggravated law and order or militancy-related issues.

The court also emphasised that Fazili was a first-time offender, with no other pending cases against him. It further remarked that his co-accused, who allegedly published the article, had already been granted bail. The court noted that both Fazili and his co-accused played similar roles in the publication of the article, which would have been ineffective had it not been published.

The court referred to a judgment by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, which had already assessed the gravity of the article and concluded that there was no incitement to armed rebellion, violence, or terrorism in the content of the piece. The High Court had affirmed that the article did not undermine the state’s authority or promote acts of violence.

As part of the bail conditions, Fazili is required to report to the nearest police station in Mahore on a weekly basis and present his attendance in court on each hearing date.