In New Delhi, a prominent human rights activist and a well-known journalist have been granted bail after being imprisoned for several years on charges of financing terrorism in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir. Human rights activist Khurram Parvez and freelance journalist Irfan Mehraj were detained in 2021 and 2023, respectively, under India’s anti-terrorism laws. Although both were released from a New Delhi prison late Wednesday, they remain under strict restrictions imposed by the court, and India’s federal anti-terror agency is seeking to overturn the decision.
The Indian government has escalated its crackdown on human rights activists, journalists, and dissenters in Kashmir using stringent anti-terrorism laws, especially following August 2019, when India revoked the region’s special status. Last week, a lower court in India allowed the release of both men on bail, yet the National Investigation Agency of India appealed the decision. The Delhi High Court refused to stay the release order on Tuesday but imposed tougher restrictions on their movements and activities while reviewing the agency’s appeal.
International human rights organizations, including a United Nations body, have consistently called for their release, arguing that they were imprisoned for their activism. Parvez has long been associated with the renowned rights group, the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), where Mehraj worked as a researcher. The National Investigation Agency claims they used the group to fund activities linked to militants and to promote a separatist agenda. Both deny these allegations.
The JKCCS has reported extensively on what it describes as the endemic use of torture by some of the hundreds of thousands of Indian soldiers in Kashmir, highlighting the broad powers granted to them, which have resulted in a culture of impunity and widespread human rights abuses.
Following their release, the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organization Against Torture issued a joint statement asserting that the men were detained on “fabricated charges.” They also called on Indian authorities to drop all charges against them, claiming that the proceedings are politically motivated to discredit their legitimate work and that of the JKCCS.
The case proceedings against both men will continue in the coming weeks. The disputed region of Kashmir has endured a decades-long conflict, with both India and Pakistan claiming the entire Himalayan region. Militants in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir have been fighting against New Delhi’s rule since 1989, with many Muslim Kashmiris supporting their goal of unifying the territory under Pakistani governance or becoming an independent nation.