A day after his arrest, journalist Fahad Shah has been sent to 10-day police custody by the Judicial Magistrate of Pulwama district.
Police on Saturday said Shah was wanted in three cases for “glorifying terrorism, spreading fake news and inciting general public to create law and order situation”. He was arrested after being called for questioning on Tuesday and again on Friday.
Shah’s lawyer Umair Ronga said he had moved the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Pulwama for bail. “We have also sought clarity on the allegations against him in the same court and the police have been directed to file a report in this regard by Monday,” he said.
According to the police, the journalist was arrested on Friday for the social media post “for creating malice and discontent against the country besides glorifying terrorist activities and damaging the image of law enforcing agencies”. Shah is the editor-in-chief of the online news magazine ‘thekashmirwalla’.
According to a statement issued by the district police in Pulwama, “some” Facebook The User and the Portal are uploading anti-national material including photographs, videos and posts with criminal intent to create fear among the public, and the material thus uploaded may incite the public to disturb law and order. ,
In May last year, Shah was called twice for questioning by the police, allegedly in connection with his digital news magazine’s reporting of an encounter in Srinagar’s Nawakadal area. Several residential buildings were damaged during the encounter, and the police accused Shah of “defaming” them.
In a separate case, an FIR was lodged by the Army in Shopian in January last year against two news portals, including ‘The Kashmirwala’, after a report alleged that a local army unit was “turning an Islamic madrassa school to the Republic”. Day celebrations on January 26. Another FIR was registered this week after Shah’s news portal published a report quoting family members of an alleged terrorist who was killed.
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