JACOBABAD, June 23: Television reporter Mukesh Rupeta and cameraman Sanjay Kumar were granted bail by the second civil judge and judicial magistrate here on Friday.

They were booked under section 419, 465, 471 of the PPC, 3-A of the Official Secret Act 1923 by the SHO of the Airport police station on behalf of the state.

The counsel for Mukesh moved the bail application which was granted by the court and both the reporter and the cameraman were released after submitting surety bonds of Rs25,000 each.

Mukesh and Sanjay were taken to the Jacobabad Press Club where they were greeted by their colleagues.

AP adds: Mukesh Rupeta and Sunjay Kumar were detained on March 6 for filming at the Jacobabad airbase.

Geo TV for which they worked welcomed their release and urged the government to drop the case against them.

“These two journalists had been implicated in a false case and we think that this case should be withdrawn,” said Geo TV spokesman Azhar Abbas.

Hours before Friday’s decision, Rupeta told the AP that he and his colleague had been treated like criminals or terrorists while in detention.

“Those who were holding us looked like intelligence agents. When they were beating me, I asked myself whether I am a Pakistani,” Rupeta told The Associated Press, speaking by cell phone from a police hospital where he said he was being treated for malnutrition.

Abbas declined to say who had been holding the men since March. But Rupeta’s family claimed they had been ‘illegally’ held by sensitive spy agencies before being transferred into police custody.

Interior Ministry officials declined to say who had been holding the journalists.

US-led coalition forces used the base to support operations in Afghanistan after the 2001 invasion that toppled the Taliban regime.