Srinagar: The J&K High Court on Wednesday extended the interim relief it had given to author and senior journalist Gowhar Geelani by directing police not to take coercive steps against him till July 24.
The direction was passed after Geelani’s counsel sought an adjournment of the matter on account of his client being indisposed.
Earlier, the court on June 17 had directed police not to take coercive steps against the journalist in any matter.
Counsel Salih Pirzada representing Geelani had submitted that the petitioner though not in custody was being harassed by police even though he was cooperating with the investigating agencies.
He had submitted that the petitioner had strong merit in the petitions seeking quashment of FIR no.11/2020 registered at Cyber police station Kashmir zone and questioning the order dated 22 April passed by IGP Kashmir whereby the investigation of the case was transferred to Police Station Sadder.
He had said that in the event the proceeding in the FIR was not stayed, the petitioner would bear irreparable loss, therefore the proceedings should be stayed till the matter is considered.
The relief sought was vehemently objected to by the government counsel, BAA Dar, on the grounds that the matter was under investigation by the police and the court cannot interfere in the police investigation filed under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
The court had said, “That since the investigation is underway for the last two more months, seemingly petitioner has not shown any reluctance in remaining present with the investigation authorities as and when asked, therefore police is directed not to adhere to coercive method till next date of hearing before the bench.”
Earlier, counsel Pirzada had challenged the FIR registered at the cyber police wing on the grounds that it had no jurisdiction to investigate offences beyond the purview of Information Technology Act 2000.
It was submitted by the counsel that since the FIR is registered for an offence under a special statute of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 read with Section 505 Indian Penal Code (IPC) which “is unrelated to the trappings of offences under the IT Act and therefore the FIR and the investigation lacks jurisdiction,” the counsel had stated.
In another plea he had also challenged the order passed by Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir whereby investigation of the case was transferred to Sadder police station.
The court was told by the counsel that the petitioner has been alleged by the police to be ‘glorifying terrorism’ through his social media posts but there is no such attribution made against him in the FIR registered.

NUSRAT SIDIQ