Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, 65, became Kashmir’s first prisoner to die in a far away jail in Naini since August 5, when mass arrests preceded the scrapping of special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told the Parliament that around 5161 people were detained under ‘preventive measures’ and most of them were shifted to jails outside Jammu and Kashmir.
Bhat was arrested on July 17 for his affiliation with Jamaat-eIslami (JeI), a socio-religious party that was banned by BJP government in February 2019; in run-up to the last Lok Sabha polls. Five months later, he died on December 20, in Uttar Pradesh’s Naini jail.
Back home, his family was happy to learn that Bhat’s PSA was quashed and he would be released in January. His son, Mohammad Haneef, a labourer told reporters that owing to their strained financial conditions they were unable to visit their father. It was only after the police gave him an air ticket that he was able to visit Naini. He went to see his father and was told he is no more.
“The jail officials said that my father expired on 11:20 pm on Friday [December 20]. They didn’t tell me how he had died. They just led me to the jail mortuary and asked me to identify my father’s body. The body was then taken for an autopsy,” Haneef was quoted saying. He then left from jail along with the corpse around 2.30 am on December 22 and straightaway reached his home Bonapara (Handwara) home, where Bhat was laid to rest the same night.
How Bhat died is a mystery to his family. They claim he lacked any ailments barring his limping leg, also an outcome of his earlier interrogation.
LETHPORA AFTERMATH
Denne historien er fra January 04, 2020-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra January 04, 2020-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Before The Kabul Retreat
Described as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’, Afghanistan was always termed to be at peace when it was at war. But the land-locked desert country that was always in turmoil and one of the worst targets of the Great Game suffered immensely throughout, especially in the last 40 years, Masood Hussain writes
FINGERS CROSSED
Almost everybody in academia and politics that Khalid Bashir Gura spoke to, the response over Kabul happens was simple – wait and watch
Parliamentary Committee In Srinagar
The visiting 28-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs have had detailed interactions with top civil administration and discussed developmental scenario and people’s welfare measures in Jammu and Kashmir. It is on a 4-day visit. Congress leader and MP Anand Sharma is heading the committee.
MUSIC IN MUD HOUSE
Deep into north Kashmir, Faheem Mir meet a small community that sings and lives on folk music but is facing a tense situation in the last few years
THE KABUL SPILLOVER?
Security experts are divided over the possible impact of the Kabul situation on Kashmir. But the dramatic Taliban triumph has altered the region’s geopolitics, for the time being, writes Riyaz Wani
Durga Bhawan At Katra
To enhancing facilities for the convenience of the Vaishno Devi pilgrims, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation for the Durga Bhawan, a high utility pilgrim-centric facility worth Rs 24.4 crore. The facility will accommodate 4000 pilgrims.
Women Empowerment
In the first, 480 talented girls from Jammu and Kashmir were included in the degree and diploma courses of the Pragati Scholarship. Jammu and Kashmir has also got nine scholarships under the Saksham Scheme for Persons with Disabilities.
‘SOME HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT IS THE OUTCOME OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN KASHMIR STAND-OFF'
Foreign policy expert and editor of HardNews magazine, Sanjay Kapoor believes that Taliban 2.0 has more legitimacy unlike in the past as it had signed a deal with the US and negotiated with other countries of the region, but the final verdict can be passed only after it manages ticklish issues involving half of its population, the women
Boredom Is Creative?
Getting bored is not as boring as it gets, writes Azra Hussain
LG In Bangus
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Bungus Awaam Mela amidst grand arrangements for village games, exhilarating local performances, and other activities to celebrate the 75th year of Independence.