Conflict

JK Police say they will approach court against bail to Kashmiri Pharmacist ‘falsely implicated’; ‘Court gave enough time’, says Advocate

Srinagar: A day after Jammu and Kashmir police said that they will approach the court against the bail order granted to a government Pharmacist who was falsely implicated in a militancy related case, an advocate who led the case, said that court had given police enough time to present the evidence and they cannot re-appeal the case after the verdict.

On Saturday, a day after the release of a junior pharmacist at JK Health Department, identified as Zahoor Ahmed, a resident of Marwah tehsil, in Kishtwar, who was arrested in district’s Dachhan area on January 6, 2020, police officials said that they “will take up the case with the judiciary again.”

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Kishtwar, Harmeet Singh told the media that Ahmed has been granted bail by the court on “technical grounds” in one of the cases registered against him under UAPA.

He said, “we had evidence against him and we had kept a photocopy of the evidence in that particular case. We will take up the case with the judiciary again.”

Zahoor’s advocate Faheem Ahmed told Free Press Kashmir that court had earlier told police to present all the evidences; however, they failed to do so and Zahoor was granted a bail.

He said that “court has not given him a bail on technical grounds but on merit stating that he was false held in militancy related case.”

Referring to the court order, he said that court even made out that even if it takes cognizance of the statement police produced, then also law does not find Ahmed guilty of any crime.

The advocate stated that the stage in which police was supposed to present the evidence, has already gone as court had given them enough time. “Court has taken the decision on the basis of statement provide by the police,” the advocate said.

On August 28, the Judge, Sunit Gupta, Special Judge under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, while granting the bail noted that court could not find a single witness or statement which can hold identified Zahoor responsible for his alleged links to militancy, the court ordered for the immediate release of Ahmed.

Ahmed was “released yesterday and after all the formalities he was handed over to his family,” Zahoor’s advocate told FPK on Friday.

“The court could not find a single witness, whose statements were recorded under section 161 or 164 CrPC, who have uttered even a single word against the accused Zahoor Ahmed,” the judge observed, according to the order.

In January 2019, Ahmed was arrested after police station Dachhan charged him of supporting a militancy group Hizbul Mujahideen.

The police in the charge sheet had mentioned that Ahmed also supported a militant Jehangir Saroori, who according to reports, is Kashmir’s oldest surviving militant. Saroori, a resident of Kishtwar, has been evading arrest since 1990.

However, in this regard, the court stated that even if Ahmed was intending to deliver some medicine even to the militant, he cannot be said to have been involved in any of the offence under UA (P) Act.

Besides Ahmed, police had accused nine others of being militant sympathizers of outfit Hizbul Mujahideen. They were also charged, under several sections of UA (P) Act, of providing the information about armed forces personnel to militants to carry out attacks on them.

In a separate case that was filed by Kishtwar police station against him in 2019, he was accused of providing medicine to Saroori and three others on the instant of one Akther Hussain, resident of Kishtwar.

Advocate Faheem added that the court has also mentioned that concerned investigation officer from the department of JK Police, has not found any evidence against the accused. In fact, he said, the officer had managed to annex a photostate copy of a statement of the witness identified as Akhter Hussain which was recorded under section 164 CrPc in some other case and attached with this case.

“With the strength of the said copy of the statement, the investigation officer  (IO) had made a successful attempt to falsely implicate the accused Zahoor Ahmed and even as per the statement; the accused is not genuinely found to be involved in any such activity which may be said to be an offence under UA(P) Act,” the court added in the order copy that lies with Free Press Kashmir.

The court further observed Ahmed cannot be said to be involved in aiding, harbouring or being part of the militant organisation.

As the court directed the superintendent of Central Jail, Jammu to release the accused from custody, the accused was granted bail subject to furnishing the surety bond or Rs. 25,000.

 

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