Srinagar: A Delhi court granted bail to prominent Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez and journalist-researcher Irfan Mehraj in a case investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The fresh bail on Saturday (July 18) marks another major legal relief for the two, who have remained in custody for several years.The order was passed by additional sessions Judge Pittambur Dutt of the Patiala House Courts in the case registered as RC-37/2020, which the NIA has described as the “NGO terror funding case”.According to sources familiar with the matter, it remains unclear whether Parvez and Mehraj will be released today (Saturday) or on Monday, as their release is subject to the completion of procedural formalities linked to the court order.The fresh order comes a little over a month after the Delhi high court granted bail to Parvez in a separate NIA case.In the present case, in which bail was granted today, the NIA named Parvez as the first accused, Mehraj as the second and Ghulam Hassan Bana, whom the agency describes as absconding in Pakistan, as the third accused.The agency has alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), where Parvez served as programme coordinator and Mehraj worked as a researcher, “received foreign funding that was channelled to the banned militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen under the guise of human rights work”. Both Parvez and Mehraj have denied the allegations through counsel.Parvez, 49, was first arrested by the NIA in November 2021 on allegations including terror funding, facilitating militant recruitment and mobilising protests during the 2016 civilian uprising in Jammu and Kashmir. He has remained in custody since then while facing prosecution under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).His arrest and continued detention have drawn criticism from several international human rights organisations, which have described him as one of Kashmir’s leading human rights defenders and have repeatedly called for his release.Mehraj on the other hand was arrested in the ‘NGO terror funding case’ in March 2023.On June 10, the Delhi high court granted bail to Parvez in another NIA case after he had spent more than four-and-a-half years in custody.A division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja held that the prolonged incarceration, the slow pace of the trial and Parvez’s disability justified his release despite the stringent bail restrictions under the UAPA.That case stemmed from an FIR registered by the NIA in November 2021 alleging that the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had established a network of operatives and over-ground workers across India. Although Parvez was not named in the original FIR, he was arrested during the course of the investigation.The NIA alleged that Parvez was part of a larger conspiracy involving LeT operatives and supporters and had collected information relating to Army movements near the Line of Control.Parvez denied the allegations, maintaining that the material collected by him formed part of human rights documentation concerning alleged enforced disappearances, torture, illegal detentions, extrajudicial killings and the impact of the conflict on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir.The investigating agency also cited Parvez’s meetings with Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin in 2007 and 2015 as evidence of alleged links with the outfit. Parvez has maintained that those meetings took place with valid travel documents as part of humanitarian advocacy aimed at encouraging armed groups to abide by the Geneva Conventions and that the visits were a matter of public record.Parvez headed the programmes of the JKCCS, one of Kashmir’s most prominent human rights organisations. The organisation documented alleged human rights violations and advocated for victims of enforced disappearances, custodial violence and extrajudicial killings. Mehraj worked with the organisation as a journalist and researcher.With bail now granted in both NIA cases, their release will depend on the completion of legal formalities and compliance with the conditions imposed by the courts.While the cases arose from separate FIRs, they are closely intertwined. Both concern the work of the JKCCS, rely on documents and electronic material recovered during searches of its offices, and rest on the prosecution’s allegation that the organisation’s human rights documentation was a cover for terrorist activity.Parvez and Mehraj have denied the allegations, maintaining that their work was confined to documenting human rights violations and advocating for victims in Jammu and Kashmir.