SRINAGAR: Two journalists based in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Anantnag have been formally detained, reportedly under Section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and sent to the district jail, days after they were locked up in local police stations for 'questioning'.
Section 107 CrPC pertains to the powers vested with an executive magistrate who may order detaining a person, he thinks, could commit a breach of peace or disturb the public tranquility, for a period not exceeding one year.
The families of these scribes Salam Shah and Suhail Dar said that they were recently detained at the police stations for “questioning” but shifted to the district jail on Thursday after being produced before a magistrate.
The police had asked for eight days remand of both Shah who is the editor of an online newsweekly magazine – Kashmir First- and Dar, a freelancer, a report said. But the magistrate, as per the local news gathering agencies, gave only two days remand, following which both were shifted to Anantnag district jail at Mattan in the afternoon.
Dar’s family said that he had received a phone call at around 4 pm on October 8 asking him to report to the Sadder Police Station, Anantnag. Shah was picked from his home in Sheerpora area of the district on October 12 by the police, his brother Imran Shah said.
The police has, so far, not issued any statement on the detention of the scribes.
The reports said that Dar was detained in April last year also over posting some “objectionable” photographs and videos on his Facebook page. He was booked under Section 505 of the IPC but was bailed out by a court after 25 days in the case.
