Srinagar, June 25 -- Police had to cut a sorry figure Tuesday after a local court granted bail to a senior editor within hours of arrest in a nearly three-decade-old case, and raised questions about investigation, pointing out that the police had cleared the scribe twice in the past 29 years for passport.

Ghulam Jeelani Qadri, the editor of 'Daily Afaaq', was arrested late Monday night in a case registered in 1990 under section 3 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act (TADA).

He was arrested on the basis of a non-bailable warrant issued by the then Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) on October 15, 1992.

The law under which Qadri was arrested deals with intention to overawe the government as by law established or to stri...