SRINAGAR: On Monday, a special court in this city denied the bail requests of ten second-rung separatist leaders who had been detained on suspicion of attempting to resurrect the outlawed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). Further Sessions Judge Srinagar Sandeep Gandotra, a special judge appointed under the NIA Act, rejected the separatists’ arguments, stating that granting them bail at this point would jeopardise the interests of the general public and the state. The embargo outlined in section 43(D) proviso 5 is invoked in the current case, and the court noted that the accused parties/applicants do not merit the freedom of release at this time. “Furthermore, public interests/interests of the state/UT shall be at risk if the accused persons/applicants be expanded on bail at this point. Accordingly, the applications are denied, and they will be added to the records once the required procedures have been followed, the court stated. The bail application hearing had been grouped by the court. The judge further stated that the denial of the bail requests should not be interpreted as a judgement on the merits of the main case.Firdous Ahmad Shah, Jahangir Ahmad Bhat, Saheel @ Suhail Ahmad Mir, Khursheed Ahmad Bhat, Syed Rehman Shams, Sajad Hussain Gul, Mohammad Rafiq Phaloo, Gh. Hassan Parray @ Firdousi, Mohammed Yaseen Bhat, and Shabir Ahmad Dar were among the separatist leaders who had filed the bail applications. They were detained in July of this year on suspicion of attempting to resurrect the JKLF, which the Centre had banned in March of this year.
