Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has served notice to the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha led Jammu and Kashmir administration over a petition by PDP's youth leader Waheed Ur Rehman Para demanding permission to leave the country in order to enroll in Yale University's three-month Peace Fellowship programme.
After allowing the plea, Justice Sanjay Dhar sought the response of the Jammu and Kashmir administration in the case and scheduled the matter for review on July 12. Para filed a motion with the High Court after a Special NIA Court denied him permission to travel abroad for the fellowship. The court ruled that Para's travel abroad might interfere with the proceedings of the UAPA case against him already being probed by the NIA.
The High Court was informed by Para's counsel, advocate Shariq Reyaz, that the NIA court had disregarded Para's arguments in the case and that the ruling dismissing his petition was an absolute miscarriage of justice. He argued that the NIA court's decision was obviously arbitrary and rested on assumptions and suppositions.
He asked the High Court to set aside the same since it was unjustified from a legal standpoint. In his plea, Para argued that the right to travel abroad is a basic right and cannot be completely restricted because criminal charges are still pending against him. "Right to travel abroad is a fundamental right and that the same can only be subjected to reasonable restrictions and that pendency of criminal proceeding however grave is not and cannot be an absolute bar curtailing the fundamental right of the petitioner to travel abroad," the plea reads.
The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh granted bail to Para on May 25, 2022, with a number of restrictions. These include restrictions on leaving Jammu and Kashmir without the trial court's prior approval. He was also instructed to hand over his passport to the investigating officer. Para was recently selected for first Peace Fellowship of the Yale Peace Fellowship, 2023, which will begin in September and conclude in November of this year.
