Court denies permission to PDP leader to accompany ailing father outside J&K

  Court denies permission to PDP leader to accompany ailing father outside J&K

A court in Jammu & Kashmir has denied permission to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youth president Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra to accompany his ailing father outside the Union Territory (UT) for treatment.

“A blanket permission for one year cannot be granted to the applicant (Parra) to go outside the UT of J&K because not only the trial of the case will be hampered by the absence of accused on the dates on which witnesses would appear in this case for recording of their statements, but there are apprehensions that he will misuse the liberty, if granted, to again try and connect with elements anywhere in India, who are suspected of running terrorist and secessionist networks,” Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Gandotra held in the order, issued on Thursday.

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The court also held that there were also apprehensions of Mr. Parra “trying to influence the collection of evidence”.

Mr. Parra, in his plea before the court, had sought one year travel permission outside UT of J&K to Mumbai and New Delhi to help his father, Ghulam Ahmad Para who is suffering from the cancerous ailment “metastatic squamous cell carcinoma”, and is diagnosed with 4th stage of the cancer.

“Parra is the elder son and responsible for taking decisions. The medical condition of father of the applicant (Parra) is inconsistent and worsening frequently and the same requires constant and quite recurrently, a medical intervention and treatment outside the Union Territory of J&K in reputed medical institutions of the country; that in such an eventuality of any such emergent situation,” Parra’s lawyer pleaded before the court.

Mr. Parra, a close aide to PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, was arrested on November 25, 2021 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a terror-related case and was granted bail on January 9, 2021. However, the Counter Intelligence Kashmir, a wing of the J&K police, again arrested him and later booked him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for alleged “links with terrorists and separatists”. Mr. Parra was granted bail in May last year.

Mr. Parra’s arrest evoked a sharp reaction from the rights group of the United Nations (UN), which termed his arrest as “an act of reprisals following his engagement with UN Security Council members and denunciation of human rights violations in the state of J&K.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Parra, who won the District Development Council (DDC) in 2020, was denied permission to take oath. He was also denied permission to join as the Yale Peace Fellow at the Yale University’s International Leadership Center for a programme this year.