Shehla Rashid granted interim relief in sedition case

A Delhi court has granted protection from arrest to Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement leader Shehla Rashid in a case of sedition lodged against her for tweets accusing Army of torture and other human rights violations following the abrogation of special status for the state.

Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar Jain gave her pre-arrest bail till November 5 with a direction to join the investigation when called by the police.

Additional Public Prosecutor Irfan Ahmed also informed the court that the Delhi police's Special Cell which lodged an FIR against her, had so far not even issued a notice to her.

He also submitted the Delhi police have not received any complaint from the Army and it would require at least six weeks time to investigate the complaint.

“Considering all these facts, I am of the view that the matter requires investigation in detail, accordingly, renotify on November 5, 2019. Till then the accused shall not be arrested. However, she shall join the investigation as and when called by the Investigation Officer,” the judge said in his order passed on September 9, Monday.

Shehla's counsel senior advocate Satish Tamta submitted that the accused was ready to join the investigation and co-operate with the police.

The FIR was registered on Tuesday last, against the leader on a complaint filed by lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava, who alleged that her tweets on Army were "false, baseless and concocted, which were evident from the fact that she has not produced" any evidence.

The Delhi Police's Special Cell has invoked sections of Indian Penal Code related to sedition (124A), provocation for rioting (153), promoting enmity between communities (153A), intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace (504) and public mischief (505).

In a series of tweets on August 18, she had claimed that Army personnel were "entering house at night, picking up boys, ransacking houses, deliberately spilling rations on the floor, mixing oil with rice etc".

She also claimed that four men were called into the Army camp in Shopian and "interrogated (tortured). A mic was kept close to them so that the entire area could hear the scream, and be terrorised. This created an environment of fear in the entire area".

Soon after, Army denied the allegations and said they were "baseless and rejected. Such unverified and fake news are spread by inimical elements and organisations to incite unsuspecting population".

Quoting the lawyer's complaint, the FIR has said that her tweets were retweeted on "international platforms, causing irreparable injury and reputation of India".

In a statement, Shehla had described the FIR as “a frivolous, politically motivated and pathetic attempt to silence” her. She said she had clearly mentioned that her tweets were based information received from people.