UAPA chargesheet filed against PDP’s Waheed Parra

A senior police officer confirmed to The Indian Express that they have filed the chargesheet against Parra. The PDP said Parra’s counsel is yet to get a copy even though he was informed about the chargesheet by the police.

Parra was detained in November last year, three days after he filed his nomination papers for the District Development Council (DDC) elections, by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with a terror case against former J&K police officer Davinder Singh.

According to the NIA, Para, who went on to win the polls, was allegedly in touch with one of the accused. The PDP had denied the charges.

On January 10 this year, a special court granted bail to Parra in the NIA case, saying that the “offences, particularly falling under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), are not prima facie made out”. Parra was then picked up by the CIK and placed in judicial custody.

Meanwhile, five Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations have released online their report sent to the Central Government in March, seeking its response on the “arbitary detetion and torture” of Parra in custody.

“…On 30 July 2020, Mr Para engaged with current and future members of the UN Security Council as a participant in a closed virtual meeting where he raised the alarm about the Government of India’s actions in Jammu and Kashmir, its treatment of Muslim minorities, and the recent border tensions with China,” said the report sent to the Government on March 31.

“Following this engagement, Mr Para received threats from officials…They gave him an ultimatum that if he did not cease speaking out about the Government, action would be taken against him,” said the report which was released Monday night.

The report alleged that Parra was tortured in custody. “A few hours after his release (on bail), he was arrested and detained by the Counter- Intelligence in Kashmir (CIK) under a different charge related to providing financial support to terrorist groups. On 11 January 2021, he was formally charged and transferred to Srinagar under the custody of CIK. He appeared before court with a lawyer for a bail hearing. Bail was denied and he remains in remand,” it stated.

The J&K administration has not responded to the contents of the report prepared by UN Special Rapporteurs Nils Melzer, Elina Steinerte, Tae-Ung Baik, Agnes Callamard and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin.