UAPA case: Kashmiri scribe Asif Sultan rearrested two days after release

Two days after Kashmiri journalist Asif Sultan was released from a five-year detention, he has been rearrested in Srinagar in another case, officials said on Friday, 1 March. "Sultan was rearrested late Thursday night," 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 Public Security Act.

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

Officials said Sultan's release was delayed because authorities at Ambedkar Nagar district jail in Uttar Pradesh were awaiting clearance letters from Kashmir's home department and the Srinagar district magistrate.

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.