Senior journalist granted bail in 3-decade-old case

Ishfaq Tantry
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, June 25

A court in Srinagar on Tuesday granted bail to Ghulam Jeelani Qadri, a senior journalist and owner of a local newspaper, who was arrested in a midnight raid at his residence in Srinagar on Monday.

The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, has further directed the Shaheed Gunj Station House Officer to be present on July 31, the next date of hearing, to explain the delay in execution of warrants and what steps he had taken to produce the journalist earlier as the warrants were issued against him about 26 years ago but executed by the police now.

Qadri (62), editor, printer and publisher of Daily Aafaq, an Urdu daily published from Srinagar, was arrested in a case registered against him and seven other journalists in 1990.

While pleading the bail of Qadri, his lawyers submitted before the court that the journalist was never intimated about the pendency of the said case before the court during the past nearly three decades. The lawyers described the police conduct as an attempt to intimidate the local journalist community.

“The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, has granted bail to the senior journalist. The court has also sought personal explanation of the SHO concerned for execution of the warrants after a passage of 26 years and the steps taken by him to trace out the journalist before arresting him during a mid-night raid,” said advocate Riyaz Khawab. Qadri was arrested in the 1990 case registered against him and eight other journalists when he was running the now-defunct local news agency JAK (Jammu and Kashmir) News.

He reached home on Monday around 11:30 pm from his office when the police knocked at the door and took him away to the nearby police station.

The arrest warrant was issued against him on June 23, 1993.

While Qadri was shown absconding in the case, the other three journalists, Khawaja Sanaullah Aftab (Daily Aftab), Ghulam Mohammad Sofi (Srinagar Times) and Mohammad Shaban Vakil (Daily Al-Safa), have passed away during this time.

Midnight raid

• Ghulam Jeelani Qadri, a senior journalist and owner of a local newspaper, was arrested in a midnight raid at his residence in Srinagar on Monday
• The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, directed the Station House Officer to be present on July 31, the next date of hearing, to explain the delay in execution of warrants