Pro-freedom speeches of Farooq Abdullah: HC grants final opportunity to Srinagar DM to file status report
JAMMU, APRIL 4: The Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh High Court in a significant order here on Monday granted three weeks time as a last and final opportunity to Srinagar District Magistrate for filing an affidavit stating his response to the detailed report submitted to him by SHO Nageen Police Station regarding that pro-Azadi speeches made by the National Conference president and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah during 2017.
The directions came in a writ petition filed by one Sukesh Khajuria after advocates Sheikh Shakeel along with Rahul Raina and Mohammad Zulkarnain Chowdhary invited the attention of the court towards in orders dated February 10 and March 24 this year granting time to Additional Advocate General Amit Gupta to get an affidavit of Srinagar District Magistrate especially after the submission of status report dated December 10 last by the Srinagar SSP in the matter.
The Srinagar district police chief had in his status report said that following a complaint by Khajuria seeking action against Farooq Abdullah for his pro-Azadi speeches, SHO Nageen had taken up the matter with the District Magistrate and had submitted a detailed report to him in the matter. An appropriate response from the District Magistrate was awaited, he had submitted.
Arguing the matter, advocate Sheikh Shakeel said that after the lapse of five years, it appears that the District Magistrate is not inclined to proceed further in the matter against the highly influential former CM of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State despite court’s directions and supply of all the relevant material including CDs and newspaper clippings of his speech. As senior Additional Advocate General S S Nanda and AAG Amit Gupta sought more time, Justice Sindhu Sharma granted last and final opportunity to the Srinagar District Magistrate to file his affidavit and directed the court’s registry to re-notify the matter on April 22.
