Srinagar, August 4 , 2020 : The Indian authorities booked a Kashmiri journalist under a black law and was shifted to Srinagar Central Jail, today. The editor of Kashmiriyat, the news portal Qazi Shibli who was was summoned by Indian police few days ago from his residence in Islamabad district and detained him in an interrogation center has been booked under 107 Security for keeping the peace in other cases, a law that allows pre-emptive detention of a person based on suspicion.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Srinagar, Dr. Haseeb Mughal told the media men that Mr. Shibli was detained under 107 CRPC (security for keeping the peace in other cases) and shifted to Srinagar Central Jail.
Superintendent of Police, Central Jail Srinagar, Tej Ram Katoch, informed that Mr. Shibli was brought to the jail on Monday. “He has been placed in a separate cell as is the norm with any new inmate. We receive them only after they are confirmed COVID negative and then we place then in isolation for 12 days,” the Jail superintendent said.
Mr. Shibli who was also arrested by poice in July 2019 and was released in April 2020 after nine-month under detention under the black law Public Safety Act (PSA). He was lodged in a jail in Uttar Pradesh in India.
Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has demanded immediate release of Mr. Shibli. “Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir must immediately release Qazi Shibli and allow him to return home,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Indian authorities must end their harassment of journalists and allow them to do their jobs without interference.”