Srinagar, Sept. 17, KDC: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has granted regular bail to Amsterdam-based political analyst Junaid Qureshi in an alleged attempt-to-murder case involving his father, former militant Mohammad Hashim Qureshi, ruling that the possibility of false implication cannot be ruled out amid an escalating intra-family property dispute.
The order was passed by Justice Sanjay Parihar, coming less than a week after the Srinagar Second Additional Sessions Court remanded Junaid to custody on September 11 by refusing to extend his interim protection.
Setting aside his continued detention, the Court observed that while the charge under Section 109 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) is inherently grave, the case file revealed sharply competing accounts of the scuffle that took place during the intervening night of August 30 and 31 at the family’s Gupt Ganga residence in Nishat.
“The possibility of false implication, in the peculiar factual background obtaining in the case, cannot altogether be ruled out at this preliminary stage,” the Court said. The bench further noted that “this Court does not find sufficient material, at this stage, warranting continued incarceration of the petitioner,” especially since the injured senior Qureshi is recovering and crucial physical and electronic evidence has already been secured.
A pivotal element in the High Court’s determination was the deposition of the victim’s wife, the petitioner’s mother, who was an eyewitness to the altercation. While the complainant, Junaid’s brother, claimed that Junaid and his associates assaulted him with stones and sticks, the mother testified that her husband fell down and sustained a lacerated head injury requiring stitches after being pushed during a general melee, without mentioning any weapons.
The court also took cognizance of a counter-FIR (FIR No. 33/2026) previously registered at Junaid’s instance against his father and brother. The Investigating Officer acknowledged that surveillance footage captured two masked individuals approaching Junaid’s residence accompanied by the complainant, who has since absconded and figures as an accused in the cross-case.
Justice Parihar said that bail proceedings do not determine guilt or innocence and that prolonged custodial detention serves no purpose when conditions can safeguard the probe. Junaid was ordered to be enlarged on a surety bond of ₹1,00,000, subject to conditions that he cooperate with investigators, desist from confronting his father, and refrain from intimidating any witnesses.
The earlier September 11 order of the Sessions Court had canceled Junaid’s interim bail after viewing CCTV footage of the fall and reviewing hospital records of Hashim Qureshi’s then-critical ICU state.
Junaid Qureshi serves as the director of the Amsterdam-based European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) and frequently testifies at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. His father, Mohammad Hashim Qureshi, heads the Jammu Kashmir Democratic Liberation Party and is widely recognized for his involvement in the 1971 hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight ‘Ganga’ to Lahore, after which he spent decades in Pakistani detention and European exile before returning to Kashmir in 2000. (KDC)
