After spending 12 days under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody, prominent human rights activist Khurram Parvez on Saturday was taken into judicial detention and shifted to Tihar jail in New Delhi.
Parvez has been booked under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and other multiple charges after NIA on 22 November raided his residence and office in Srinagar.
According to Parvez’s family, he appeared before the Court on Saturday after which the court ordered his judicial custody and was shifted to Tihar jail.
Speaking to The Kashmir Walla, Parvez’s wife, Sameena Mir said, “He has been sent to judicial custody till 23 December and shifted to Tihar jail.”
A day after being arrested Parvez was flown to New Delhi after meeting his family in the morning.
According to the arrest memo, the sections that have been invoked against Parvez include 120B, 121 and 121A of IPC and sections 17, 18, 18B, 38 and 40 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) Act, 1967.
According to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 120B is a punishment for criminal conspiracy. 121 is a waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India (GoI), while 121A conspiracy to commit offences punishable by section 121.
Similarly, section 17 of UAPA is a punishment for raising funds for terrorist act. Section 18 is a punishment for conspiracy, while 18B is punishment for recruiting any person or persons for terrorist acts.
Section 38 of UAPA is an offence relating to membership of a terrorist organization, while section 40 is an offence of raising funds for a terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, national and international rights bodies and activists continue to react over the arrest of Parvez demanding his immediate release.
The United Nations on Wednesday has expressed concern over the arrest of a prominent Kashmiri rights activist under the stringent “anti-terror” law by the authorities and has called for his release.
“We are deeply concerned at the arrest of Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez under Indian counter-terrorism legislation, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA),” the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a statement.
In 2016, Parvez was slapped with the Public Safety Act (PSA). His arrest had come a day after he was barred from travelling to Switzerland to participate in a session of the UN Human Rights Council. He was released after 76 days of prison.
Parvez is the chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and the programme coordinator of JKCCS. He had lost his leg in a landmine while monitoring the 2004 Parliamentary elections.
