Kashmiri journalist arrested two days after being released from 5-year detention

Sultan was arrested under UAPA in 2018. When he was given bail by a court in 2022, he was arrested under Public Safety Act, and now, under another law

SRINAGAR: Two days after Kashmiri journalist Asif Sultan was released from a five-year detention, he has been rearrested here in another case, officials said on Friday.

"Sultan was rearrested late Thursday night," the officials said.

He was released from Ambedkar Nagar district jail in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday and reached home on Thursday.

However, the family's joy was short-lived as he was taken into custody in another case the same night he returned home, the officials said.

He was first arrested in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case in September 2018 when he was working as a reporter with a local magazine.

The journalist was arrested for "allegedly providing logistical support to a banned militant group."

In April 2022, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court granted him bail in the case on the grounds that investigative agencies “failed to establish his links with any militant group”.

However, days later he was booked under the PSA. The Public Safety Act allows administrative detention of up to 1 year for "any person acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order" and up to 2 years in the "case of persons acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State".