annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
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INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Jammu and Kashmir<br />
many of them including Bala Bi, wife of<br />
Lal Khan Shahida and her mother Jan<br />
Begum. Later, their houses were set<br />
ablaze. 128<br />
On 11 September 2004, members of<br />
an armed opposition group allegedly<br />
hurled a grenade at the residence of Jalalud-din,<br />
CPI (M) worker at Pooniwah,<br />
Kulgam in Anantnag district that injured<br />
his two daughters Tahira Bano and<br />
Naseema Bano. Both the girls were shifted<br />
to hospital where Tahira succumbed to her<br />
injuries. 129<br />
On the night of 25 October 2004,<br />
members of an armed opposition group<br />
<strong>report</strong>edly indiscriminately fired into the<br />
house of one Yousef Malik in Salbal<br />
village in Gool tehsil of Udhampur district<br />
and killed Yousef and his mother Jameela<br />
Begum on the spot. His son and wife were<br />
critically wounded. The armed groups also<br />
kidnapped the deceased’s brother Gulam<br />
Mohmmad and later killed him and<br />
dumped his body in the outskirts of the<br />
village. 130<br />
V. National Security Laws<br />
The Public Safety Act (PSA), 1978<br />
continued to be used extensively in Jammu<br />
and Kashmir. Since coming into power in<br />
November 2002, the PDP-Congress<br />
coalition government <strong>report</strong>edly released<br />
326 detenues serving detentions under the<br />
PSA. 131 There were 533 persons<br />
languishing in jails in and outside the state<br />
under Public Safety Act (PSA) in February<br />
2004. Of these, 361 detenues were<br />
<strong>report</strong>edly of Kashmir while 172 were of<br />
<strong>for</strong>eign origin. 132 According to J & K<br />
Minister of State <strong>for</strong> Home Abdul Rehman<br />
Veeri, 537 persons were detained under the<br />
PSA by July 2004. 133 Following the first<br />
round of talks between the central<br />
government and the Hurriyat Conference,<br />
the Joint Screening committee had<br />
<strong>report</strong>edly recommended 34 cases under<br />
the PSA to the Jammu and Kashmir<br />
Government <strong>for</strong> revocation in March<br />
2004. 134 The Central Government<br />
approved a list of 24 detenues booked<br />
under PSA to be released. 135<br />
On 8 June 2004, the Jammu and<br />
Kashmir High Court quashed the detention<br />
order of Dr Meraj-ud-din Shigan booked<br />
under the PSA <strong>for</strong> his alleged involvement<br />
in militancy and ordered his immediate<br />
release. Quashing the detention order, Mr<br />
Justice Bashiruddin of the Jammu and<br />
Kashmir High Court observed that the<br />
grounds on which he was arrested were not<br />
supplied to the detainee and that the<br />
detention order was vitiated. 136<br />
The Jammu and Kashmir government<br />
also extensively invoked the Prevention of<br />
Terrorism Act, 2002. On 25 February<br />
2004, J & K Minister of State <strong>for</strong> Home<br />
Abdul Rehman Veeri in<strong>for</strong>med the<br />
Legislative Assembly that out of 168<br />
POTA detenues, 86 were released since the<br />
inception of the PDP led coalition<br />
government. 137<br />
VI. Prisons and prisoners<br />
The conditions of the prisons in<br />
Jammu and Kashmir remained deplorable.<br />
A survey <strong>report</strong> of the Jammu and Kashmir<br />
101
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