New Delhi: After the NIA requested additional time to conduct the probe, a Delhi Court has prolonged judicial custody of Kashmiri journalist Irfan Mehraj and human rights activist Khurram Parvez in a 2020 UAPA case.
In the purported NGO militancy funding case that the NIA filed in October 2020, Mehraj and Parvez are charged.
On June 9, Patiala House Court’s Principal District and Sessions Judge Sanjay Garg granted the NIA’s request for an extension of both Mehraj and Parvez’s judicial custody and the duration of the probe.
Even though the NIA had asked for a 180-day extension, the court only gave it 45 more days.
“After giving my thoughtful consideration to the submissions made by the Ld. Counsel for both the parties, the PP Report and various judicial pronouncements, this Court is satisfied that extension of period of detention of the accused persons in judicial custody is required. The application is allowed and period of judicial remand of both the aforesaid accused persons namely Khurram Parvez and Irfan Mehraj is extended for 45 days i.e. up to 135 days,” the Live Law reported quoting court order.
After receiving a transit remand from a local court, Mehraj, who was arrested on March 20 from Srinagar, was transported to Delhi.
On March 22, he was then presented before Patiala House Courts. Parvez, who was already in NIA prison for another crime, was also detained on the same day, and they both were remanded to NIA custody for 10 days.
