Released from Ambedkar Nagar district jail in Uttar Pradesh, Sultan reached Srinagar on Thursday. Enjoying barely a few hours of freedom, he was arrested late in the night.
Team Clarion
SRINAGAR – Kashmiri journalist Asif Sultan, released from a five-year detention two days ago, was rearrested here on Thursday. The arrest this time is in connection with another case dating back to 2018 filed at a police station in Srinagar.
Sultan was released from Ambedkar Nagar district jail in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday and reached home on Thursday. Enjoying barely a few hours of freedom, he was arrested late in the night after being summoned to a local police station.
Sultan was initially arrested in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case in September 2018 while he worked as a reporter with a local magazine. The grounds for his arrest were his alleged involvement in “providing logistical support to a banned militant group.”
In April 2022, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court granted him bail in the case because investigative agencies “failed to establish his links with any militant group.” However, days later he was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
His detention under the PSA was quashed in December 2023 by the Jammu Kashmir High Court. The court described allegations against him as “unsustainable.”
However, his union with the family had to wait for over two months due to “clearance” issues from Jammu Kashmir’s Home Department.
