Kashmiri rights activist and journalist released on bail in Delhi
Khurram Parvez and Irfan Mehraj left jail while India’s National Investigation Agency appeals the bail order in their terrorism-financing case.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Indian authorities have released Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez and journalist Irfan Mehraj on bail after years in custody on terrorism-financing charges. Their release matters because rights groups have treated the case as a test of India’s treatment of civil society and the press in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Relatives said the two men left a jail in New Delhi late Wednesday. India’s National Investigation Agency, which brought the case, is trying to overturn the bail order.
Parvez is the programme coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, known as JKCCS. The National Investigation Agency arrested him at his home in Srinagar in 2021, according to Al Jazeera, AFP and AP.
Mehraj, a freelance journalist who also worked as a researcher with the rights group, was arrested in 2023, according to the same report. Both men deny the allegations against them.
Restrictions remain in place
The two face accusations of funding terrorism and promoting a secessionist agenda under India’s antiterrorism laws, according to the National Investigation Agency. The agency alleges they used JKCCS to finance activities linked to militants and to advance separatist politics.
A lower court granted bail last week, according to the report. The agency appealed, but the Delhi High Court on Tuesday declined to pause the release order while it considers that appeal.
The High Court added stricter limits on their movements and activities, according to the report. A court document seen by AFP says Parvez and Mehraj must arrange accommodation in New Delhi, where their trial is taking place, and may not travel to Kashmir.
The case is expected to continue in the coming weeks. The antiterrorism laws used in the case allow authorities to hold accused people for long periods without trial, according to the report.
Rights groups call case politically driven
JKCCS has spent decades documenting alleged abuses by Indian government forces in Kashmir, according to the report. Its work has included allegations of torture, unlawful killings and unmarked graves in border areas suspected of containing victims of enforced disappearances.
International rights groups, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, have called for the release of Parvez and Mehraj, saying they were detained because of their work. In 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention described Parvez’s arrest as an act of reprisal for his human rights work and an attempt to silence Kashmiri civil society.
After the release, the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organisation Against Torture said the charges were fabricated and urged Indian authorities to drop the case. The two Paris-based groups described the proceedings as politically motivated.
Journalists in Indian-administered Kashmir say they have faced harassment and arrests since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked the region’s partial autonomy in 2019. Rights groups describe the period since then as a broad crackdown on activists, journalists and dissidents in the region.
Government figures cited in the report show that more than 3,600 people were arrested in Indian-administered Kashmir under antiterrorism laws from 2019 to 2023, with more than half still in prison.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947, and both countries claim it in full. Rebel groups have fought Indian rule since 1989, seeking independence or union with Pakistan, in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, according to the report.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.