Detailed Delhi High Court judgment and specific bail conditions are awaited
NEW DELHI — Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez was granted bail on Wednesday by the Delhi High Court after spending more than 54 months in jail in a terror funding case filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
A division bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja allowed Parvez’s appeal against a trial court order dated December 17, 2024, that had denied him bail. “We have granted bail, subject to various conditions,” the bench said while pronouncing the order. The detailed judgment and specific bail conditions are awaited.
Parvez was arrested by the NIA from Srinagar on November 22, 2021. He was remanded to judicial custody on February 25, 2022, after several rounds of police custody remands. As of December 19, 2024, when his appeal was filed, he had been in custody for roughly 3 years and 1 month. The “54 months” figure counts from November 2021 to the June 2026 bail order.
The NIA alleged that Parvez was part of a network linked to the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). According to the agency, the network recruited Over Ground Workers (OGWs), gathered intelligence on security forces and military installations, and facilitated terror funding. Parvez was not named in the original FIR but was arrested during the investigation.
The charge sheet accused him of recruiting OGWs for LeT, collecting information on army movement and structure, maintaining links with Pakistan-based terrorist organisations, and instigating protests following the killing of Burhan Wani in 2016.
Parvez’s Defence
In his appeal, Parvez denied all allegations and argued he was a “factual stranger” to the larger conspiracy alleged by the NIA. He told the court he is a human rights defender who served as Programme Coordinator and Spokesperson of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) and Chairperson of the Philippines-based Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD).
His legal team argued there was no digital evidence showing contact with members of any proscribed terrorist organisation. They said no call detail records were collected regarding an alleged meeting between him and co-accused Muneer Ahmad Kataria. They also contended that his visits to Pakistan were public and related to advocacy work against landmines and enforced disappearances.
Senior advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir represented Parvez. The NIA opposed the bail plea.
International Attention and Past Detention
Parvez’s arrest drew criticism from UN experts and rights groups. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in June 2023 called his detention arbitrary and urged Indian authorities to release him immediately. UN experts have repeatedly raised concerns about the UAPA, noting that Section 43D (5) makes bail “highly unlikely” and allows detention up to 180 days without evidence.
This was not Parvez’s first detention. In September 2016, he was prevented from travelling to Geneva for the UN Human Rights Council session and was detained for 76 days under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act. In 2004, he lost a leg in an IED blast in Kupwara while monitoring elections. JKCCS, the group he worked with, was awarded the Rafto Prize for human rights in 2017. In March 2023, Parvez was implicated in a second UAPA case alongside journalist Irfan Mehraj, filed in October 2020.
What Happens Next
The high court’s detailed order will specify the bail conditions. In similar UAPA cases citing prolonged incarceration, Delhi High Court benches have imposed conditions like personal bonds of ₹50,000 with sureties, surrendering passports, restrictions on travel, and limits on social media activity.
Parvez’s case has become a focal point in debates over UAPA, pre-trial detention, and the space for human rights work in Jammu and Kashmir.
