RELEASED NOT FREED

Even after moving out of the special jails and from the home detentions, Kashmir politicians will be haunted by the memory of the seven months they spent almost under lock and key

- Saima Bhat

On March 11, when Muzamil Bilal reached MLA Hostel in Srinagar, she was shocked to see the plight of her incarcerated husband, Bilal Sultan Shah. Stepping carefully into a dim-lit room dominated by an eerie silence, Muzamil could not fix her thoughts on anything. That, however, was not the worst part of the visit. She was shocked to see her husband in isolation and dishevelled. “His room was dark. All lights were off and he was lying in bed and sweating,” said Muzamil, who runs a private school in Bemina. “”.

She broke down as soon as she left the hostel. A few minutes later, she received a call from an officer informing that her husband’s bail had been approved.

Not willing to believe, she was in a dilemma. “It was his third bail since his detention, so I was unsure about it,” she said.

Last week, Shah had a panic attack. He was rushed to SMHS hospital and later to the Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences (IMHANS) in Rainawari. He was diagnosed with symptoms of “extreme suicide ideation”. The doctors who treated him advised counselling sessions twice a week, besides other medication.

A lawyer by profession and a social activist running an orphanage, Shah had joined Engineer Rashid’s Awami Itehaad Party last year. As Rashid and Dr Shah Faesal came together, Shah also became part of joint Peoples United Front (PUF). Convinced by the political agenda of PUF, Shah unsuccessfully fought Lok Sabha elections from Srinagar in 2019 against winning candidate Dr Farooq Abdullah, who was also booked under stringent Public Safety Act (PSA). As this report was being filed, UT administration revoked the PSA detention of 87 years Abdullah.