Trainee reporter with Kashmir Reader booked

Jammu and Kashmir police have registered a case against a reporter with the banned newspaper Kashmir Reader on charges related to publication of “statements of conducing public mischief”.

A case under Section 505 of the Indian Penal Code was registered on Friday against Ishfaq Reshi for a September 28 report on crop-burning, in which villagers were quoted as blaming “government forces” for the alleged arson. The story did not have a response from any police or government spokesperson.

Kashmir Reader was banned on October 2 for allegedly inciting violence during the ongoing unrest in the Valley.

Reshi, a student of convergent journalism at the Central University of Kashmir, said he was presented before a Munsif court in Magam on Friday and directed to apply for bail from the sessions court in Budgam. “I was in police detention during the day (on Friday) and allowed to go home in the evening,” Reshi was quoted as saying in a media report. On Friday night when HT called the SHO of Magam police station, Aftab Ahmad, to verify Reshi’s statement, the officer denied making any arrest. “There are charges against him but he has not been arrested,” the officer said.

JK Police had on September 30 released a statement denying the charges but it did not have any specific reference to the Kashmir Reader article.“Apropos to the news item published by a section of press under the heading, ‘Forces set ablaze rice crop in Budgam’. In this regard Budgam police have clarified that the incident has been maliciously linked with forces. However, some anti-social elements set on fire two haycocks ,” the police statement had said.