Para jailed on baseless charges, his only crime is he stood for truth: Mehbooba

Asserting that it has been almost a year since PDP youth president Waheed-ur-Rehman Para has been jailed on ‘baseless charges’, former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said that his only crime was that he stood for truth and reconciliation.

“This is the tragedy of New India,” Ms Mehbooba, who is the president of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), added.

“Having fought for the right to freedom for others, its been almost a year since @parawahid has been jailed on baseless charges. His only crime is that he stood for truth & reconciliation & is now being punished for it. This is the tragedy of New India,” she wrote on micro-blogging site twitter.

A special court last month framed charges against Para, a close aide of party chief and Ms Mehbooba. The charges were based on a police charge sheet that accused Para of being “an asset for Pakistan-based militant groups”. The charge sheet described the political career of Para as a ‘saga of subterfuge, deceit and double-dealing’.

However, the charges against Para have been denied by his lawyer Shariq Reyaz. “Prima facie there is sufficient evidence against the accused for alleged commission of offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code,” the court had said.

“I have gone through the police report as well as the statements of the witnesses of the prosecution and have applied my mind into the present facts and circumstances levelled in the police report… as well as statements of the witnesses and the digital evidence against the accused, there is sufficient evidence against the accused for alleged commission of offences,” the court added.

UNI ABS