A special court in Delhi on Monday released journalist Iftikar Geelani seven months after he was arrested under the Official Secrets Act.
He was allegedly possessing sensitive documents relating to deployment of troops in Jammu and Kashmir.
The government had filed an application before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sangita Dhingra Sehgal on January 10 for withdrawal of the case.
The government's latest stand came as a surprise as only on Tuesday last the home ministry had opposed Geelani's discharge plea. It had questioned the second opinion of Director General of Military Intelligence O S Lochab giving a 'clean chit' to the Kashmir Times journalist.
On December 1, 2002, Lochab had said that the documents seized from Geelani, son-in-law of All-Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, were not classified as claimed by the police.