Delhi High Court upholds bail for Kashmiri activists amid NIA appeal
The National Investigation Agency seeks to overturn the decision, while international bodies condemn the charges as politically motivated reprisals for human rights work.
Indian authorities have released prominent Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez and journalist Irfan Mehraj on bail following years of imprisonment on terrorism financing charges. The two men were freed from a New Delhi jail late on Wednesday, according to their relatives, though they remain subject to strict court-imposed restrictions.
Parvez, who serves as programme coordinator for the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, and Mehraj, a researcher for the same organisation, were arrested in 2021 and 2023 respectively. They face charges of funding terrorism and propagating a secessionist agenda under India’s stringent antiterrorism laws. The National Investigation Agency accuses the men of using their civil society work to fund militant-linked activities, allegations both defendants deny.
A lower court granted bail last week, prompting the National Investigation Agency to appeal. The Delhi High Court has refused to suspend the release order pending the appeal, although it imposed tougher restrictions on the men’s movements and activities. Under the bail conditions, the pair must arrange their own accommodation in the capital and are banned from travelling to Kashmir.
Proceedings in the case are scheduled to continue in the coming weeks. The Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society has long documented alleged rights violations by Indian government forces in the region, including torture and unlawful killings, and has highlighted thousands of unmarked graves suspected of holding victims of enforced disappearances.
International rights groups and the United Nations have characterised the arrests as politically motivated reprisals for their human rights work. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention previously stated that Parvez’s arrest was an act of reprisal, while organisations such as the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organisation Against Torture have described the charges as trumped-up.
Government figures indicate that from 2019 to 2023, more than 3,600 people were arrested in Indian-administered Kashmir under antiterrorism laws, with more than half remaining in prison. The arrests follow the annulment of the region’s partial autonomy in 2019, a move that journalists in the territory say has led to increased harassment and detention of dissenters.
