Trainee reporter with Kashmir Reader booked

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

A case under Section 505 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 that has claimed at least 90 lives and left thousands injured.

Reshi, a student of convergent journalism at the Central University of Kashmir, said he appeared before a Munsif court in Magam where he was directed to apply for bail from the sessions court in Budgam.

“I was in police detention during the day (on Friday) and was allowed to go home in the evening,” Reshi was quoted as saying in a media report.

On Friday night when HT called the station house officer 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.

Consequently, police also said Reshi circulated “fake news” and for a normal incident of crop burning “he blamed the forces”.

J&K 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 district police administration Budgam have clarified that the incident has been maliciously linked with forces. However, some anti-social elements set on fire two haycocks at village Adina, Magam,” the police statement had said.