KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
After being released from Kupwara jail and subsequently re-arrested by J&K Police, noted human rights defender Khurram Parvez was shifted to Kothi Bagh Police Station in the dead of Tuesday/Wednesday night.
Principal Sessions Judge Srinagar on Tuesday ordered his release and the release order was handed over to the Kupwara jail authorities by the family members and lawyer of Khurram around 8 PM last evening.
“Khurram was already under illegal detention for last four days,” Khurram’s wife, Sameena Mir, said, “we did not want him to stay in jail for one more night, so we rushed to Kupwara after Judge ordered his release.”
Khurram was arrested last Thursday night by a police party and lodged in Kothi Bagh Police Station. He was later shifted to Kupwara Jail as police had sought ten days remand. However, the order was quashed by police on Tuesday.
One of the Khurram’s lawyer, his brother and Sameena drove to Kupwara who got him released around 8 PM.
“(But) Khurram was yet to come out of jail (premises) when a police contingent, well-armed, had reached there,” Sameena said.
“We have been told to arrest Khurram,” the cops told Khurram’s family and lawyer. “They had not written order,” Sameena said. “We have been directed by Dy SP not to allow Khurram to go Srinagar,” Sameena quoted cops as having told them.
The lawyer of Khurram asked for arrest warrant or some written order but “cops insisted on verbal orders”.
Khurram was taken to Police Station Kupwara from the jail premises and the said Dy SP reached around there 10:30 PM.
“The Dy SP repeated the story saying he has orders from higher ups not to release Khurram,” Sameena told Kashmir Life this morning. “The Dy SP even feigned ignorance about the case.”
“When we asked for orders, they showed us the papers signed by Executive Magistrate which had already been quashed by the Court,” she said. “We had deliberations with the cops but they didn’t accept the argument and continued the illegal detention of Khurram.”
“We were later informed that a police party is arriving from Ram Munshi Bagh Police Station which will take custody of Khurram,” she said.
An ASI led police party reached PS Kupwara and Khurram was driven to Srinagar around 3:30 AM and lodged in Police Station Kothi Bagh Srinagar.
“The police vehicle was not comfortable neither disability friendly,” Sameena said. Khurram’s one leg has been amputated after the vehicle he was travelling in hit a land mine during 2002 elections. Along with his colleagues and some volunteers, he was on a mission to monitor the election process in Kashmir which had witnessed massive armed rebellion during 1990s. Asiya Jeelani, a rights defender and colleague of Khurram was killed in the incident.
On Tuesday, when Khurram’s case came up for hearing in Srinagar court, the Executive Magistrate Mohammad Amin Najar preferred silence as court quashed the orders passed by him.
“I have nothing to say,” Najar told the judge Rashid Ali Dar when asked to respond to the submissions filed by the counsels of Khurram.
The J&K Police have put Khurram under preventive detention after they picked him up from his home at 11:45 PM on Thursday because they “apprehend he may cause a breach of peace”.
As per the sections (107/151 CRPC) of the law invoked by the police against Khurram, “a personal bond with or without sureties would have sufficed for his immediate release”. The police didn’t allow that to happen.
