Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 25: A senior journalist and Printer Publisher and Editor of Urdu Daily Afaaq was arrested in a midnight raid at his residence in Srinagar but was granted bail by Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar after police failed to provide grounds of his arrest before the Court.
Ghulam Jeelani Qadri, 62, was arrested from his residence last night soon after he reached his home from his office. He told Excelsior that last night at around 11:30 p.m as he reached home, police knocked at the door and as he came out he was bundled into a police vehicle and taken to Police Station Shaheed Gunj.
The family members who immediately reached the Police Station were given no reason about his arrest. However, in the morning, they were handed over a photo copy of a 1993 arrest warrant issued against Qadri and 7 other journalists. However, Qadri was singled out and no other journalist was arrested under the warrant.
The arrest warrant against Qadri and seven others was issued under 512 CrPC (proclaimed offender) by CJM Srinagar on June 28, 1993 in connection with a case registered on December 15, 1990. The others against whom the case is registered include Ghulam Mohammad Sofi, Editor Srinagar Times, Ghulam Nabi Shaida, Editor Wadi Ki Awaaz, Ghulam Rasool Arif, Editor Hamdard, Sadudin, Editor Azad Srinagar, Aashiq Kashmiri, Chief Editor Azaan, Shafiq Aijaz Khan, Azaan and Pir Abdul Shakoor, Azaan.
Ghulam Mohammad Sofi passed away few years back and so has Ghulam Rasool Arif. Sofi was Member Legislative Council a decade after he was declared proclaimed offender and the arrest warrant was never executed against him.
Police failed to produce charges against Qadri before CJM Srinagar Gouhar Dalal. They had no case file, no chargesheet and were only possessing arrest warrant of 1993 which they had failed to execute for last 26 years.
Advocates Tasaduq Khawaja, Riyaz Khawar and Bashir Ahmad Sidiq who were representing Qadri argued before the CJM that the arrest of the senior journalist was aimed at harassment. They told the Court that Qadri was given passport clearance by the same Police Station twice since 1993 and he was member of Press Accreditation Committee and member of Press Advisory Committee since 1993 and said how he could be pro-claimed offender.
Advocate Bashir pleaded before the Court that arrest of Qadri was aimed at influencing Kashmir Press Club elections that were scheduled on June 29. Qadri’s name was emerging as consensus candidate for president of KPC but he himself was reluctant.
The advocates pleaded before the Court that three of the accused in the FIR have passed away. One among them Ghulam Mohammad Sofi had been an MLC. “There are still some three or four more accused and no warrants have been issued to them. It was a pick and choose policy, only Qadri was targeted, the warrant was issued against him only. There is some conspiracy that somebody wants to sabotage the elections of Kashmir Press Club”, said advocate Bashir.
“The case was registered in 1993 and till date no attempts have been made to arrest the person. Simply, it is harassment aimed at muzzling the press”, Advocate Riyaz Khawar argued.
The CJM asked SHO Shaheed Gunj to appear in person and explain his position. He has been asked what they did since 1993 regarding executing of the arrest warrant. “Why was not the warrants against Ghulam Jeelani Qadri executed all these years”, the CJM asked police.
As the police failed to produce the case file before the CJM, he asked them to explain their position. Court asked SHO to remain present on July 31 before the CJM’s court to explain the position why were not the warrants executed during last 26 years.
Advocate Khawar later told reporters that at the time challan was being filed, the journalists were not informed and it was the duty of police. “They have not done that so far. Now on some ill-will, they have brought up the case and the case is registered under Criminal Law Amendment against Ghulam Jeelani Qadri and other journalists. Now Court has sought the explanation from the SHO and other people to explain their position, otherwise action will be taken against them”, he said.
Advocate Khawar said that Court has declared them absconders on the basis of police report. “Police have declared them untraceable. It unfortunate that the senior journalist is always in the office, there is passport verification, which the police has conducted and still the police are lying and they have stated that they have not been able to trace them for long 26 years. It is the irony of the police version. They have made it a police State, how they are dealing with the civilized journalists and suppressing their voice, so that they won’t raise their voice or they cannot raise public issues in the media”, he said.
“Once the accused in termed as an absconder, they have to follow a due procedure under criminal procedure code. Firstly, they have to serve the summons, not the warrants, to the accused, which is not available. Then they have to issue a Lookout Notice (LON), Lookout Circular (LOC) and it is not there”, said Advocate Khawar.
“It is not known what the case is; they have not given the copy of the challan to the accused. That is the irony that we don’t know till date what is the case, what are the allegations? Everybody has a Constitutional right under 173 CrPC that a person who is accused, he is to be given the copies of the case. We could defend the case once the copies would have been given to the accused. It is the adversity of the justice that the police are doing, they have not followed the principles and we don’t know what the case against the person is; even the accused does not know what are the charges against him”, said Advocate Khawar.
Kashmir Union of Working Journalists condemned the midnight arrest of Qadri. “The arrest seems to be aimed at muzzling the voice of local press. Qadri was attending office on daily basis and there was absolutely no need for carrying out a midnight raid at his residence. The working journalists here are wondering about the timing of execution of the warrant which had been issued 26 years ago”, said spokesman of KUWJ.
Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG) condemned arrest and termed the midnight raid as shocking. “Police invoked a 1990 case registered against eight journalists and editors. Of the eight accused, two veterans are no more – Sofi Ghulam Mohammad of ‘Srinagar Times’ and Ghulam Mohammad Aarif of ‘Daily Hamdard”, they said.
“It is still not known why Qadri was singled out for allegedly defying the due process of law in a case he is not aware about”, said KEG statement issued here.
KEG regretted the way a senior Editor was declared proclaimed offender in books and finally arrested during the dead of the night. “Qadri, like every member of the media in Kashmir, is a law abiding citizen and could have personally appeared before the police station or the court had he been informed. He has been a newspaper editor for last more than two decades, has contributed to the institution of media and has been in public life for three decades. How can a person be a proclaimed offender if he is available in his office in the heart of Srinagar for more than 15 hours daily?”, asked KEG.
KEG regretted that the arrest of Qadri has led to the delay in the electoral process of the Kashmir Press Club because most of the journalists were busy shuttling between courtrooms and the Police Station for the whole day.
KEG acknowledged the judicial intervention that led to Qadri’s release. Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar actually showed the judiciary’s concern in the case insisting that the liberty of the media is not barred or trampled upon.
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