Court Grants Bail to JK Scholar Abdul Aala Fazili After Nearly Three Years in Custody

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VoM News Desk | February 14, 2025 | 04:12 PM IST | Breaking News, Jammu Kashmir | Tags: Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu Kashmir news | Follow on Google News

Court Grants Bail to JK Scholar Abdul Aala Fazili After Nearly Three Years in Custody

A Jammu and Kashmir court has granted bail to Abdul Aala Fazili, a PhD scholar who was arrested in 2022 for allegedly writing a “seditious” article in 2011. Fazili was detained by the State Investigation Agency (SIA) in Srinagar, with authorities accusing him of inciting unrest through an article published in a now-defunct Kashmir magazine. The magazine’s editor, Fahad Shah, was also arrested in the case but had been granted bail earlier.

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The 3rd Additional Sessions Judge in Jammu, responsible for cases under TADA, POTA, and UAPA, ruled that the evidence linking Fazili to the article was weak. The court noted that he had already spent nearly two years and nine months in custody and that his detention would be unjustifiable if he were acquitted at trial. It emphasized that Fazili was a first-time offender with no other pending cases, and since the editor who published the article was already out on bail, there was no reason to deny Fazili the same relief.

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The SIA claimed that Fazili’s article was “highly provocative” and aimed at glorifying militancy. However, the court rejected this, stating there was no incitement to violence and that the government had taken no action against the article for 11 years—indicating it had no real impact on law and order.

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The prosecution invoked Section 43-D (5) of UAPA to oppose bail, but the court ruled that denying bail would violate Fazili’s fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. Given that none of the 10 prosecution witnesses could confirm Fazili as the article’s author, the court found no legal basis for his continued detention.

With this ruling, Fazili has now been released from Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu and has returned home to the Kashmir Valley, marking the end of a prolonged legal battle.

VoM News Desk

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