Fahad Shah was arrested on Feburary 4 for sharing "anti-national" content on social media.
The Editors Guild of India (EGI) condemned the arrest of the Kashmir journalist Fahad Shah and demanded his immediate release.
Fahad Shah, the editor of 'The Kashmir Walla' news portal, was arrested on Feburary 4 for sharing "anti-national" content on social media.
In a statement, police said the social media posts by Fahad Shah "tantamount to glorify terrorist activities and intending to create fear among the public to disturb law and order".
The Guild urged the Jammu and Kashmir administration to stop harassing journalists in the name of national security. In its statement, the Guild also demanded the release of journalist Sajad Gul, who was arrested last month.
The EGI said the space for media freedom has "progressively eroded" in Kashmir.
"The guild urges the state administration to respect democratic values and stop the harassment of journalists in the name of national security," it said.
The EGI noted that Shah was earlier questioned for four days over his reporting on "a deadly police raid" in Pulwama in late January that left four people dead.
Over the last few years, Shah was summoned and detained "multiple times" for his writings, the editors' body noted.
The police say there are three FIRs against the journalist
"For the last 3 to four years, Fahad Shah was frequently glorifying terrorism, spreading fake news, instigating people to create law and order problem. There are three FIRs against him and he was arrested on the basis of FIR in Pulwama," said Fahad Shah, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir.
The news portal 'The Kashmir Walla' had carried an article where a family alleges that security forces killed their innocent teenage son during the encounter. The police said the 17-year-old was a "hybrid terrorist" and killed along with three other terrorists.