Jammu court sends ex-High Court Bar President Mian Qayoom to 15 days judicial custody in lawyer's murder case

A special court in Jammu has sent Senior Advocate and former President of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association Mian Qayoom to 15 days of judicial custody in connection with the 2020 murder of Advocate Babar Qadri..Special NIA judge Jatinder Singh Jamwal sent Qayoom to judicial custody till July 20 after the senior lawyer was produced before the court on the expiry of his second remand..Qayoom was arrested by the State Investigation Agency (SIA) on June 25 in connection with murder of Advocate Babar Qadri, who was shot dead at his Srinagar home in September 2020 by unknown persons posing as clients..J&K High Court lawyer, television panellist shot dead by unknown gunmen in Srinagar.The Srinagar Police initially formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Qadri's murder. It filed a charge-sheet against six accused before the special Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) court in Srinagar in 2021. In August 2022, the police conducted searches at Qayoom's residence and those of two other lawyers in Srinagar, seizing digital devices, bank statements and documents. The investigation was later handed over to the SIA.Last September, the SIA announced a reward of ₹10 lakh for any information that would help solve Qadri's killing..In 2023, the SIA moved the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to transfer Qadri's murder case from the Srinagar court to any other court of competent jurisdiction in Jammu.Senior Advocate Mohsin Qadri, on behalf of the SIA, submitted that a fair trial was not possible in Srinagar because the witnesses, more particularly, the father and brother of the deceased, were being harassed and threatened to depose in favour of the accused persons. He pointed out that no counsel from Srinagar was willing to conduct the case on behalf of the complainant.In January 2024, Justice Rajnesh Oswal allowed the plea and directed the transfer of the case to the Special NIA Judge at Jammu..Qayoom had served as President of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, Srinagar for over two decades.In August 2019, he was placed under preventive detention under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India. His detention was later upheld by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, which cited his "secessionist" tendencies..He remained detained until mid-2020, when the Central government decided not to extend his detention beyond August 6, 2020.