Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Thursday welcomed the Delhi High Court’s decision to grant bail to Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez in a terror-conspiracy case investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
In a post on X, Mirwaiz termed the development very welcome news and said Parvez and his family had suffered for years during his incarceration.
“But when individuals, despite being granted bail by the courts, are re-arrested in other cases, so that they continue to remain in jail -as we saw in Shabir Shah Sahib’s case, it defies the purpose of justice. Hope this practice is not followed in his case,” Mirwaiz said.
He also expressed hope that “all political prisoners, youth, and hundreds of others” who have spent years in jail awaiting legal resolution would get relief and reunite with their families.
The office of Srinagar MP Ruhullah Mehdi also welcomed the High Court order, calling it a “significant and welcome development.”
The MP’s office said the court had reaffirmed that “bail remains the rule, not the exception,” and hoped that Parvez would also secure bail in the second UAPA case registered against him in 2020.
“Congratulations to Khurram, his family, and the legal team. It is our sincere hope that he is granted bail in the second UAPA case registered in 2020 at the earliest, so that he may finally walk free after years in detention,” MP said.
Parvez was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, four-and-a-half years after his arrest in the NIA case.
However, he will continue to remain in custody in connection with another NIA case of 2020, in which he was formally arrested in 2023 while already in jail. His bail plea in that case is still pending before the trial court.
