Foreign funds, online media subscription can foment trouble: J&K probe team

The chargesheet, filed in October last year, stated that the digital magazine had been “operating on a subscription base model where the readers subscribe and pay for a certain fee”.

“Unscrupulous elements can utilise this route to fund an entity to foment trouble in a region and carry out propaganda in its own interest,” it stated, adding that “this part is under investigation”.

Giving details of three bank accounts operated by Shah, which it claimed received funds totalling Rs 95,59,163, the SIA alleged that one account received “foreign funding” to the tune of Rs 10,59,163 from Reporters sans frontieres (RSF or Reporters Without Borders), an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, in 2020-21.

The chargesheet alleged that the money was transferred in three instalments, that the account was not eligible to receive foreign contributions since it had not been registered under the provisions of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).

“Another account allegedly received approximately Rs 58 lakh, out of which Rs 30 lakh is foreign contribution by way of subscription payment… which is suspicious,” it stated.

“Reporters Sans Frontiers also popularly called as reporters without borders is an organisation which supports press freedom all over the world, while in reality the entity is involved in subverting the democratic freedoms all over the world,” the SIA said in its chargesheet against Shah and Fazili. It said the RSF was contacted via email to seek clarity, but did not respond.

Responding to an email from The Indian Express for comments on the SIA claims, the RSF said it was “still waiting for a formal notification from the SIA or any other relevant authority. It seems that SIA officials are not very comfortable with the elements involving RSF in their chargesheet”.

“About their allegations, it is strange, to say the least, for an agency with special police powers that has little regard for human rights to accuse a non-governmental organisation like RSF of ‘subverting democratic freedoms’. Our mandate is precisely to defend press freedom as a guarantee for democracy. The methodology we use for the World Press Freedom Index is perfectly transparent, and available on our website. The aim of RSF’s work is not to be critical of any particular country, but to provide an accurate picture of press freedom in each country,” the RSF stated.

The chargesheet stated that Fazili had authored a “seditious” article and Shah’s digital magazine had published it in 2011. It alleged that they are “contaminated and compromised journalists” who advocated, abetted and instigated the youth to pick up arms against the Government of India.

Jahanzaib Hamal, an advocate associated with senior advocate P N Raina, counsel for Shah, said: “Whatever allegations have been levelled by the SIA in its chargesheet do not constitute any offence.” He said they intend to take the challenge to the High Court.

The chargesheet stated that oral, documentary and material evidence collected during investigations established that both, under a “well directed conspiracy and Pakistan’s efforts, have resurrected a platform for reviving the narrative in support of the terrorist and separatist ecosystem”.

“Under this plan, select anti-India elements within the media, guided from across, have held several secret meetings in which the adversary instructed” them “to form media platforms, especially digital platforms that are inexpensive but have wider reach; form and float associations that can conceal and camouflage such persons and screen their connections with and funding from hostile foreign agencies and terrorist/secessionist entities,” the chargesheet stated.

The SIA claimed that on April 4, 2022, it received from a “discreet but reliable source” a printout of a “highly provocative” and “seditious” article titled ‘The shackles of slavery will break’ written by Fazili and published in The Kashmir Walla (in 2011). However, the SIA could not find that article on the digital portal’s website as it was “surreptitiously removed” by it “as part of destroying evidence”, it claimed.

Accordingly, a preservation request was made to the domain provider on April 11, 2022 and “the article re-appeared on the website”, it stated, adding that the “article was downloaded  from the website by a technical expert in presence of the Executive Magistrate Ist Class” on April 12, “which proves that the article was available on the internet”.

The chargesheet stated that “Fazili at the time of writing the article and its subsequent publication was studying in Kashmir University” and was receiving a monthly stipend from the Government of India, first as Junior Research Fellow and later as Senior Research Fellow. “In spite of being a recipient of government benefits, the accused sided with the adversary and, as part of a conspiracy, chose to undermine the government of the day,” it stated.