Four Kashmir-based journalists were raided on Wednesday and later detained at a police station in Srinagar in a one year old case under draconian UAPA.
The journalists include senior editor Kashmir Narrator’s Showkat Matta, journalist who report for TRT World and Huffington Post Hilal Mir and freelance journalists Azhar Qadri and Abbas Shah.
According to the police, the detentions were made in connection with a case filed last year against unknown persons at Srinagar’s Kothi Bagh police station (FIR No. 82/2020) under Section 13 of the UAPA and 506 IPC.
The Wire reported that the teams of police and paramilitary forces raided the residences of Motta, Hilal, Abbas and Azhar in Srinagar simultaneously on Wednesday. They have been asked to reappear for questioning on Thursday.
“They seized a hard drive which contained my work, a desktop, hardcopies of the magazine’s archives and phones. I was later taken to the police station and set free in the evening,” 52 year old senior journalist Motta told The Wire.
Cops claimed to have seized several documents and electronic devices belonging to the journalists and their spouses during the raids, which lasted for several hours.
