SRINAGAR Journalist Asif Sultan was on Saturday sent to judicial remand till 22 September by District Court Srinagar.
Sultan, an Assistant Editor at a local magazine Kashmir Narrator, was picked up by the J&K Police from his home in Batamaloo area of Srinagar at around 2 in the intervening night of August 26-27, his family said. He has ever since been languishing in police custody, according to his father Muhammad Sultan.
Following concerns raised by journalist unions, Asif was presented in court on September 1 but remained in police custody for another week over his alleged involvement in militancy-related incidents.
Police had also seized his laptop, cell phones and other documents.
While the Police are yet to make public the charges against Sultan, the magazines editortold a news portal that one of the charges was glorifying late Hizb commander Burhan Wani. The police have questioned Sultan for his cover story on Wani, which appeared in the June issue of the magazine, his ideology and other stories.
The Kashmir Editors Guild has demanded that the police make public the charges against Sultan. It stressed on the importance of the freedom of speech. The incriminating material the police have stated in a routine statement is too vague to be accepted as a reason, the guild had said.
The Kashmir Working Journalist Association and the Kashmir Journalist Association have demanded disciplinary and legal action against police officials for violation of the fundamental rights of an individual through illegal detention. They have also demanded his immediate release.
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