Hurt Locker

The divide between the police and the people in Kashmir has become almost unbridgeable

- Tariq Bhat

Laylat al-Qadr, or the night of destiny, is the most auspicious night in the Islamic calendar. It marks the high point of Ramadan, and most Muslims spend the night praying. Deputy superintendent of police Mohammed Ayub Pandith returned to his house in Nowpura in downtown Srinagar with the same intention on June 22. But he got a call from his office just after dinner and was asked to report for ‘access control duty’ at Jamia Masjid at Nowhatta, where separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq delivers sermons on Fridays and on Eid.

Pandith went to the mosque in mufti. Some people at the mosque grew suspicious seeing him recording the premises on his mobile phone (a police officer posted in the area said he was just marking his presence at the spot to show his seniors). They started questioning him, which soon became an altercation. Pandith whipped up his service revolver when the mob started attacking him and fired a few shots. Three people were injured, but the crowd pounced on him, stripped him and hit him with bricks and stones. A blow on his head with a pipe left him unconscious. The mob dragged his body out of the mosque’s compound and dumped it in a drain outside. They left him to die there.

Pandith’s ribcage and skull were crushed, said a relative. His relatives and colleagues could not identify him from an image circulated on WhatsApp. Initially, the police even denied reports that a policeman was lynched at Jamia Masjid. They became anxious only after realising that Pandith’s mobile phone was switched off. Pandith’s family was devastated when they identified his body at the police control room the following day.

The police have arrested five people, including the three who were injured in the firing, for killing Pandith. Twelve others have been identified as part of the mob which attacked Pandith, and the government has formed a special investigation team to probe the case.