Kashmiri photojournalist, Mannan Dar who was detained at the Tihar jail for over a year has been granted bail by the court.
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat, a family member of Mannan Dar confirmed that NIA court of Patiala house Delhi granted bail to the 24-year-old journalist on Monday afternoon.
“We are expecting his release tomorrow. We have not received any formal orders of the bail as of yet, however, the counsel of Mannan is hopeful that he will be released as soon as the papers are ready,” the family member said.
On October 10, 2021, police in Srinagar summoned Dar for questioning at Batamaloo Police Station in Srinagar where he was detained. Officials with the NIA formally arrested him on October 22, as per the family.
He was arrested along with 23 others in the FIR registered in October last year under Sections 18, 18A, 18B, 20, 38, and 39 of the UAPA and sections 120B, 121A, 122, and 123 of the Indian Penal Code.
NIA also raided Dar’s family home in Srinagar and seized cellphones, the family’s deed to their home, and financial documents.
Authorities have arrested 13 people allegedly involved in Dar’s case, including his brother Hanan, who was taken into custody on October 17 and formally arrested on October 19.
In a charge sheet filed on April 8, 2022, the NIA accused Manan and 24 others of working in support of militant organizations, However, Manan’s lawyer, had said that the authorities lacked evidence to support this allegation, apart from claiming that Dar was a member of unnamed pro-separatist WhatsApp groups and possessed photographs of militants in his phone.
The NIA had also argued that Dar and the other accused were associated with the online groups and were acting as “hybrid cadres” on behalf of the proscribed terrorist organisations.
“He was very much involved in persuading youths of the region to get radicalized in the name ‘Kashmir cause’ this fact gets corroborated with the statement of PW-261,” the response filed by the probe agency states.
Opposing Dar’s bail plea, the NIA had stated that the matter has national ramifications posing a direct threat to the security of the country. There is a anger that Dar may abscond across the border and influence witnesses, if released, according to the agency.
Pertinently, three more Kashmiri journalists are languishing in jail currently, two of them, Sajad Gul and Asif Sultan are detained at Uttar Pradesh under the Public Safety Act.
Fahad Shah, the editor of Kashmir Walla is held under the Public Safety Act in Jammu’s Kot Balwal jail.