J&K High Court asks police why girl is detained

The case has been listed for next hearing on April 20.

The Jammu and Kashmir high court has stepped in to know why a 16-year-old Kashmiri girl has been detained by police after her alleged molestation by an Army soldier in north-western Handwara town, an incident that sparked off a chain of violent protests in the Valley earlier this week.

In subsequent firings on protesters by the Army and J&K police in Handwara and elsewhere, five people were killed and a few others injured, pushing the Valley into increasing unrest and escalating violence which have also left dozens of security personnel and protesters injured, eight of them on Saturday. IGP (Kashmir range) S.J.M. Gillani said that in the past five days 202 security personnel and 27 civilians have been injured in clashes in the Valley.

The court on Saturday directed the police to cite the law under which it has detained the girl. The student, her father Muhammad Akbar Ganai and aunt Zeba Begum have been detained even though a video was circulated by the Army on Wednesday showing the girl saying she was, in fact, harassed by two local youth and that there was no Army jawan present in the public lavatory where she was believed to have been molested on April 12.

The Valley remained shut for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday whereas Handwara and some neighbouring areas, and also parts of Srinagar, have been under uninterrupted curfew since Wednesday morning or in a security lockdown being enforced by thousands of police and CRPF personnel. Train services remain suspended and Internet services too have been partially withdrawn.

Fresh protests broke out in various areas, including in Ganderbal and Bandipore districts, and security forces faced difficulties containing these. A mob torched an abandoned police post at Naidkhai in Bandipore and two protesters were injured when police fired pellet guns at Trehgam in Kupwara, reports said. The Centre on Saturday sent more troops to handle the situation.

The Army had said it has not filmed the video. It, however, also said that the Army had verified the authenticity of the video and identity of the girl. “The video is being released after obscuring the face to protect the identity of the girl keeping in view the sensitivities involved,” defence spokesman Lt. Col. N.N. Joshi had said here.

The video was apparently recorded in a police station and the girl’s family said she has not been allowed to return home since and that, on Wednesday night, her father was called to the Handwara police station. Later her aunt was also detained.

Taja Begum, the girl’s mother, filed a petition before the high court seeking release of her daughter and two other relatives from “illegal detention” by the police, her counsel Pervez Imroz said. In her petition, she pleaded that her daughter, husband and sister have been kept in illegal detention in violation of the constitutional rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. She also said that she fears that the lives of her minor daughter, husband and sister are in jeopardy.

Mr Imroz told the court that the police authorities are forcing them to make some statements before the media, which is not permissible under law. He said the court has said that the father and aunt cannot be forced to appear before print or electronic media.

Besides issuing notice to the state, Justice M.H. Attar directed the Handwara SP and SHO of the concerned police station to tell the court under which law they have detained the minor girl, her father and aunt. The court also directed the police to present the girl before the chief judicial magistrate of Handwara or a judicial magistrate at the nearest place for recording of statement. The court issued notice to the respondents asking them to file objection to the petition. The case has been listed for next hearing on April 20.

Referring to the video circulated by the Army on Wednesday, Ms. Begum said earlier that her daughter had given the statement under pressure. She said that after school, her daughter went to the washroom close to an Army camp in the town’s main square and when she was inside an Army jawan emerged and she began screaming. “The boys who were there could not tolerate the screams of their sister. A crowd assembled. The police and Army opened fire,” she said.

The Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) said Ms Begum was to address a press conference at its Srinagar office on Friday but the police foiled it by laying razor wire around the premises. It also said that she had approached the society for urgent and immediate legal assistance after alleging that the family, particularly her daughter, was under pressure to make false statements. However, a legal team of JKCCS led by prominent Valley attorney Imroz was refused entry into Handwara. It quoted DIG (north Kashmir) Uttam Chand as saying that the girl, her father and aunt have been taken into “protective custody” by the police but denied the team access to the detainees and to their house in the town.

Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar tweeted: “New Delhi govt has decided to send more troops to ‘prevent further loss of lives’. Aren’t half a million already in #Kashmir enough to kill ”