SRINAGAR: The photo- journalist from Indian occupied was booked under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for uploading posts related to oppression and suppression in Indian Occupied Kashmir.
The police said that Masrat Zahra, who reports mostly about women and children in Kashmir, uploaded photographs that could “provoke the public to disturb law and order”.
The UAPA allows government of India to declare any individual as terrorist and gives more powers to security agencies to probe the cases.
This is second incident when photojournalist in Indian Occupied Kashmir has been booked under this Act. Asif Sultan, a photo-journalist was arrested in 2018 and has not been released yet.
The person charged under this Act can be jailed for up to seven years.
The first information report (FIR) has also been filed against Zahra under section 505 of the Indian penal code, which punishes those who incite others to commit an offence against state or against public tranquility.
The Indian authorities and Jammu and Kashmir police is using high hardness against the media personnel and using these unlawful tactics to suppress the freedom of press and expression.
Journalists and human rights activists have condemned the Act, calling it as the controversial and violates the fundamental right of expression and is deliberately done to suppress the media.
Indian authorities have lodged 1012 FIRs and arrested 2303 persons in Kashmir from last month.
When world health organisation WHO and other human rights organisations have urged all governments to release all prisoners due to coronavirus outbreak, Indian authorities have not released any of the Kashmiri political prisoner.
Instead they have arrested more than two thousands persons in Kashmir and shifted them different jails violating all procedures and precautions of World health Organisation (WHO).
Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed the rise in human rights violations from last month with martyring 13 Kashmiri rebels and arrested dozens of civilians from different areas.
In Shopian and Kishtwar districts of Indian occupied Kashmir, 4 youth have been martyred and their mortal remains were not given to their families for last rites and buried them in frontier area of Baramulla district secretly violating the religious rights.
Three more youth have been arrested from Sopore area of North Kashmir during night raids which violates the WHO precautions of social distancing.
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