Jammu Court Grants Bail To PhD Scholar Charged Under UAPA For Allegedly Seditious Article, Says It Neither Affected Law & Order Nor Caused Militancy

A Sessions Court in Jammu has granted bail to a PhD scholar who was arrested for an article written by her on charges under the UAPA Act. The court observed that there is no causal link between the article written by the applicant and the resulting alleged violence which had broken out. The court also observed that merely being charged under the UAPA will not prevent the court from granting the bail as 'bail is the rule and jail is the exception' even in stringent legislation as per the Supreme Court. The court noted that the article in question was published in 2011 and no action was taken against the applicant from 6-11-2011 till 4-4-2022. The court said that this shows that the article written by the applicant neither caused any disturbance in law and order nor gave any impetus to militancy. It also said that nothing can compensate for the languishing of the applicant in jail. Judge Madan Lal took note of the fact that the co-accused, who was the publisher of the said article was already granted bail by the High Court, and said that the High Court while making an assessment of the said article had observed that 'there is no call to arms by the author, there is no incitement to an armed insurrection against the State, there is no incitement to violence of any kind much less the acts of terrorism or of undermining the authority of the State with acts of violence." It also said that if the material was of the nature of inciting violence, the police would have taken action against the petitioner and would not have waited for the period of 11 years to take action against her. Accordingly, the court allowed the application for granting of the bail subject to the furnishing of one personal bond of Rs 1 Lakh and two surety bonds of like amount of solvent sureties. BACKGROUND: The petitioner had published an article in Kashmirwala back in 2011 titled 'The Shackles of Slavery Will Break' for which FIR was registered in 2022 i.e., after 11 years under Sections 13 & 18 of the UAPA and 121, 153-B, 201 of IPC. It was alleged that the article was seditious, provocative and incited people towards violence. The applicant had previously filed two bail applications, both of which came to be rejected. The Court in the present application relied on the case of "Vernon Vs The State of Maharashtra & Anr" wherein the Supreme Court had held that merely being in possession of any literature, even if it inspires or propagates violence, will not amount to a terrorist act. The court also majorly relied on the J&K High Court's assessment of the said article, which the court said was lacking the element for incitement to violence or insurrection. APPEARANCE: Suhail Ahmed Dar Advocate for Appellant Ld. APP for Respondent. Case-Title: Abdul Aala Fazili vs UT of Jammu & Kashmir, 2025Click Here To Read/Download The Order

Jammu Court Grants Bail To PhD Scholar Charged Under UAPA For Allegedly Seditious Article, Says It Neither Affected Law & Order Nor Caused Militancy

Aleem Syeed

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