Shehla Rashid has always made it to the headlines for her strong opinions, often in the criticism of the party in power. She was recently served with an FIR for having tweeted individual accounts on Kashmir, post the clampdown since August 05. On August 05, the Centre stripped off the special constitutional status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. Furthermore, with the passing of the Reorganization Bill, Jammu and Kashmir no more remained a state but was declared to be two separate Union Territories [UTs]. What followed post the announcement, was a death of freedoms and rights in the region. It was succeeded by an internet clampdown, and all communications snapped, people from the rest of India were not allowed to travel to Kashmir. It was under a siege with minimal access to essential everyday necessities and continues to struggle to regain normalcy. Shehla Rashid is an active voice in the field of politics and hails from Kashmir. After what happened in the region, she came out to testify that Indian Armey personnel tortured four men in the Shopian district of Jammy and Kashmir. She told that when they were being tortured, a microphone was placed next to them so that the entire area could hear their screams and be terrorised. This was an account of which Shehla was made aware by people who managed to travel out of Kashmir.
Following the said tweet, Shehla was implicated in the classic move of the government. She was served with a First Information Report [FIR] charging her with sedition under Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code [IPC]. The allegations on Ms Rashid is that she tweeted ‘false information about the Army’. Apart from sedition charges under section 124-A, she was also charged with 153A (promoting enmity), 505 (public mischief), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), and 153 (provocation to cause riot). It is said by the police that the complaint against Ms Rashid was filed by Mr Alakh Alok Srivastava, a Supreme Court Lawyer.
In the said matter, Ms Rashid approached the Delhi High Court in an application for anticipatory bail. Though the bail plea was dismissed by the court, it issued directions to the Delhi Police to serve Ms Rashid a 10-day pre-arrest notice, if the charges are substantiated in the enquiry and are required to arrest him. In an earlier hearing of the case, before the Delhi High Court, Ms Rashid was granted interim protection from arrest till November 05. The Delhi High Court held that in light of the nature of the allegations along with the submissions of the investigating officer [IO], it is revealed that the investigation is at a preliminary stage. Given that, the Delhi High Court disposed the plea of anticipatory bail but issued a direction to the Delhi Police. The order reads:
“..if the need arises for the arrest of the applicant/accused, she is issued a ten days pre-arrest notice,”
It was also stated by the counsel appearing on behalf of Ms Rashid that she is willing to join the investigation and would fully cooperate with the police.
