| Fahad Shah | |
| Birth Name: | Fahad Shah |
| Birth Date: | 26 November 1990 |
| Birth Place: | Soura, Jammu and Kashmir, India |
| Nationality: | Indian |
| Organisation: | The Kashmir Walla |
| Native Name Lang: | ks |
| Alma Mater: | SOAS University of London University of Kashmir |
| Awards: | Human Rights Press Award |
| Occupation: | Journalist |
Fahad Shah is an Indian journalist from Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. He is the founder and editor of the news magazine The Kashmir Walla. He was a recipient of a Human Rights Press Award in 2021.
Shah was arrested on 4 February 2022 by Jammu and Kashmir Police for alleged 'incorrect reporting' of an encounter.[1] [2] [3] [4] He has three UAPA cases pending against him.[5]
Shah studied journalism at the University of Kashmir. In 2013, he was selected as a Felix scholar to pursue Critical Media and Cultural Studies at SOAS, University of London.[6]
Shah tried to break into journalism in Delhi in 2009. The Kashmir Walla was initially his personal blog when he started it in 2011. Shah was interviewed about being a Kashmiri journalist by Mayank Austen Soofi. Disheartened by negative attitudes towards Kashmiris in comments to the article, Shah changed the focus of the blog to be a news magazine. He was selected for United States Department of State's Legislative Fellowship Program in 2017.
The Kashmir Walla struggled prior to 2018, but later had a staff of 16 and in June 2019 started producing a weekly newspaper. Following the August 2019 Revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, the internet blackout and curfews led to the news magazine not being able to publish for months.[7] The news website as well as related social media handles were take down in India on 19 August 2023 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under the Information and Technology Act, 2000.[8]
Shah edited the anthology 'Of Occupation and Resistance: Writings from Kashmir', published in 2013. The book was listed as one of the "most thought-provoking and intellectually-satisfying books" of 2013 by Hindustan Times.[9] [10] He directed a documentary on the life of Maqbool Bhat titled 'Bring Him Back', released publicly in 2018.[11]
His work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Time, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and the South China Morning Post.[12]
Shah has been summoned multiple times by Indian security agencies in relation to news reports he has published. Following his return from a trip to Pakistan in 2017, Shah was detained and questioned by police.[12]
In July 2018 a teargas shell was fired into Shah's residence. Witnesses reported that the shell had been fired by security forces or armed forces. Shah's car was also vandalized by a paramilitary group.[13]
In October 2018, Shah was accused of sexual harassment and molestation by multiple women during the height of the Metoo movement in India.[14] [15] [16] Shah was accused by a former girlfriend of his, who claimed in a facebook post that he had molested her and a friend of hers at a party in 2017.[17] The woman accused him of touching her inappropriately and of locking himself in a washroom with her friend.[17] Shah was also accused of sexual harassment by a female journalist, who claimed he had tried to force her to kiss him.[14] The woman also claimed that she had been contacted by other women, including those who had studied with Shah at SOAS or worked as journalists in Kashmir, and claimed that Shah had a pattern, "is forceful, doesn’t back down despite repeated nos and likes to paint himself as a victim."[14] Shah was accused in a publicly accessible google document containing testimonies by several women compiled by a women's rights group called Kashmir Women's Collective.[17] Shah was then accused by two more women who had worked in his magazine.[14]
Following the allegations, Shah defended himself through a post on facebook, claiming that the allegations were "completely false" and part of a "concerted vilification campaign" against him.[18] Shah also admitted that his former girlfriend and her friend had been accusing him of molestation for a while.[18] Owing to the allegations against Shah, news website Firstpost, which Shah had previously contributed to, suspended use of his services until an inquiry into the allegations was done.
Shah was arrested by Kashmiri police on 4 February 2022 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for "frequently glorifying terrorism, spreading fake news, and instigating people". He was charged with allegedly glorifying terrorism[19] [20] [21] and was booked under the Public Safety Act.[22] He had been called in for questioning following coverage in The Kashmir Walla of a police raid in the Pulwama district where four people were killed.[23]
Shah was investigated for making statements causing public mischief and for sedition, but was granted bail on 26 February. He was immediately rearrested on separate charges including "provocation with intent to cause a riot", stemming from reports by The Kashmir Walla on allegations that official pressure was placed on a Kashmir school.[24]
Shah was again granted bail on 6 March,[25] and rearrested.
In April 2022, Shah's home and the offices of the news magazine were raided by Kashmir police and SIA over an opinion article titled "The shackles of slavery will break" written by The Kashmir Walla contributor Abdul Aala Fazili in 2011.[26] [27] An NIA court denied Shah bail on 15 July 2022.[28]
After about 21 months in Kot Bhalwal Jail,[29] [30] on November 17 2023, the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court dismissed charges under various sections of UAPA against Shah observing that “[i]f this [the prosecution’s] argument is accepted, it would literally turn criminal law on its head. It would mean that any criticism of the Central government can be described as a terrorist act because the honour of India is its incorporeal property.”[31] [32]
Shah was nominated for a Reporters Without Borders award in 2020.[33] He received the Human Rights Press Award for Explanatory Feature Writing in 2021 for reporting on violence against Muslims in Delhi for The Nation.[34]