Waheed ur Rehman Para (File photo)
SRINAGAR: After five years of legal battle, Jammu and Kashmir High Court (HC) on Monday permitted People’s Democratic Party (PDP) legislator Waheed Parra to travel within the country, modifying the earlier bail condition restricting him to J&K.A division bench of Justices Vinod Chatterji Koul and Sanjeev Kumar, however, directed that Parra would be able to move within India only after “intimating his location and purpose of visit to the trial court”.Parra welcomed the order but rued the painful half-decade-long wait. “In moments when my family needed me, in grief, loss, all I could do was wait and feel the helplessness, which leaves a mark that never truly fades,” he said. “Throughout these difficult, dark years, one institution continued to give hope — the judiciary,” he added.“You begin to understand the meaning of freedom only when it is taken from you. You feel the suffering of others more deeply when you’ve carried the weight yourself. Over the years, I’ve met families living under similar restraints. Their pain has stayed with me every single day. Today, I’m reminded of how many people still live with silent burdens,” Parra said. Parra was arrested on Aug 5, 2019 — the day Article 370 was nullified in J&K — after he questioned central govt’s decision on national television. He was charged under CrPC Section 107 (breach of peace), and remained in detention for six months at a govt-designated jail, and another six months under house arrest.In Nov 2020, National Investigation Agency arrested Parra in a terror conspiracy case. A special NIA court, however, granted him bail in the case on Jan 9, 2021, noting that “offences particularly falling under Unlawful Activities Act are not prima facie made out against the accused”.While Parra was stepping out of the jail in Jammu, J&K Police’s CIK wing arrested him on the same charges.Parra contested and won the 2020 District Development Council elections from jail.In May 2022, J&K HC granted him bail, describing the evidence gathered by the prosecution against him as “too sketchy to be believed prima facie true, that too, with a view to deny bail to applicant”. However, HC had not allowed Parra to travel beyond J&K.
