Illegally detained Kashmiri businessman, Zahoor Ahmad Watali, has moved Delhi High Court against the charges framed by the trial court against him in a false case being investigated by India’s dreaded National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh, today, sought a response from the NIA in the matter and listed it for hearing on May 3, 2023.
Zahoor Watali was arrested by the NIA in 2017 under various sections of draconian law, Unlawful Activities (Pre-vention) Act (UAPA), in the case. Last year in May, the NIA Court (Trial Court) had framed charges against him and others under various sections of IPC (Indian Penal Code) and UAPA.
The court had formally framed the charges against illegally detained APHC Chairman, Masarrat Aalam Butt, and other Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders and activists including Shabbir Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Shahid-ul-Islam, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Ayaz Muhammad Akbar, Raja Mehrajuddin Kal-wal, Peer Saifullah and Zahoor Watali. Yasin Malik was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the same case. They are being victimized for their role in the ongoing Kashmir freedom movement.—KMS
