Homecoming for Kashmiri journalist after 6 months
PULWAMA:Many friends and relatives of Kashmiri photojournalist Kamran Yousuf dropped by his house in Tahab on Friday morning to offer moral and practical support.
Most of them had not seen him in a while. Yousuf was released on bail only this week, six months after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) booked him along with 11 others last September over his alleged involvement in stone-pelting incidents in the Valley.
He returned to his village in volatile Pulwama district on Thursday night.
The 23-year-old photojournalist was booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail soon after his arrest. Although Yousuf’s well-wishers know that the case against him is far from over, they are happy to just have him around.
Yousuf didn’t want to speak to the media, but his mother – Rubeena Begum – expressed joy over him receiving bail.
“Every mother wants her son to return home. We are very happy, because the six months without him were extremely painful,” she added. Everybody from village and Yousuf’s colleagues in the media hailed the decision to let him out on bail. His uncle, Irshad Ahmad, said it vindicated their stand that he was innocent. “We are thankful to everyone who believed in Kamran’s innocence and helped us out,” he added.
Additional sessions judge Tarun Sherawat had stated in the bail order that the NIA did not place “any single photo/ video showing that the applicant/accused was involved in stone pelting activities” on record.
He also said that the “mere presence of a journalist at the site of an incident is not sufficient to implicate him for the offences that allegedly occurred there”. The NIA charge sheet stated that Yousuf was not a “real journalist” because he had not covered “any developmental activity of the government” .
“We missed him a lot in these six months. Before his arrest, Kamran was one of the best and most active photojournalists among us,” said Vikar Syed, fellow-photojournalist and close friend of Yousuf.