Asif Sultan, a Kashmir-based journalist has finally received bail on 27th February, after spending 2011 days in Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar district jail.
A reporter with Kashmir Narrator, Asif, was arrested in August 2018 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly offering support to a banned militant group.
Sultan was first arrested under UAPA and the Ranbir Penal Code. Later on, after almost getting a bail in April 2022 he was then detained under the Public Safety Act within the same month.
According to the 2018 amendments to the PSA, people arrested under the law are held in prisons outside of Jammu and Kashmir, also requiring additional “clearances” to receive bail.
On December 11, 2023, the court had marked Sultan’s detention as invalid, stating that the authorities detaining him “did not adhere to the procedural requirements in letter and spirit.” But Sultan continued to stay in jail while waiting for “clearance letters” from Kashmir’s home department and Srinagar’s district magistrate.
According to a Kashmir Times report, Asif’s lawyer Adil Pandit said how the journalist’s release was a “huge relief for him and his family.”
His father Mohammad Sultan mentioned that Asif’s daughter was barely six months old when he was arrested, and is now six years old. Mohammad further said that Asif’s daughter does not recognize her father, but would question about Asif every day as to when she would be able to meet him. The family would always respond “tomorrow” to her question.
