Srinagar, Sept 18: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has granted regular bail to counter-terrorism expert, Junaid Qureshi in an alleged attempt-to-murder case involving his father, former terrorist Hashim Qureshi. The court ruled 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 after refusing to extend his interim bail.
Setting aside his continued detention, the High 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 it did not find sufficient material, at this stage, warranting the continued incarceration of the petitioner, particularly because crucial physical and electronic evidence had already been secured.
A pivotal element in the High Court’s determination was the deposition of the victim’s wife, who is also the petitioner’s mother and an eyewitness to the altercation.
While the complainant, Junaid’s brother, alleged 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. She did not mention the use of any weapons.
The court also took cognizance of a counter-FIR, FIR No. 33/2026, previously registered at Junaid’s instance against his father.
The Investigating Officer acknowledged that surveillance footage captured two masked individuals approaching Junaid’s residence accompanied by the complainant, Abrar Qureshi, who has since absconded and figures as an accused in the cross-case.
Justice Parihar observed that bail proceedings do not determine guilt or innocence and that prolonged custodial detention serves no purpose when conditions can safeguard the evidence.
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 the victim and refrain from intimidating any witnesses.
The earlier September 11 order of the Sessions Court had cancelled Junaid’s interim bail after viewing CCTV footage of the fall and reviewing hospital records concerning Hashim Qureshi’s then-critical ICU condition.
Junaid Qureshi serves as the director of the Amsterdam-based European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) and frequently presents his expert opinion at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and other international fora.
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.
