annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Jammu and Kashmir
High Court Bar Association stated that
hundreds of detenues and undertrials were
languishing in different jails due to
inordinate delay in their trials. Citing the
unavailability of escort, the authorities
deprived the undertrials of their right to be
produced before the courts. A number of
them have allegedly turned insane due to
prolonged incarceration. The undertrials
were kept with the convicted criminals in
all the seven jails in the state. Some of the
prisoners, who were released by courts,
were re-arrested at the very gate of the
prison. The report also stated that there
was no hospital or a proper place for
treating the patients in the jails. There were
reportedly no medical officers in Kathua,
Hira Nagar and Udhampur prisons. 138
On 8 June 2004, Shabir Ahmad, son of
Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din, resident of Srinagar
lodged in the Kot Bhalwal jail, Jammu
reportedly died under mysterious
circumstances. He reportedly fell
unconscious inside the cell of Kot Bhalwal
jail on the evening of 7 June 2004 and was
shifted to the Government Medical
College hospital at 11.30 p.m. that night.
Doctors on duty were reportedly of the
opinion that he consumed some poisonous
substance. 139
On 22 July 2004, Hurriyat Conference
(G) alleged that despite the court orders in
favour of release of some detained armed
opposition group’s leaders, the jail
authorities did not release them. The
organization claimed that 70 year-old
Moulvi Abdul Jabar, 50 year old Moulvi
Mohammad Jammal, Nazir Ahmad Sheikh
102
and Master Mohammad Afzal have never
been called for trial. One Zubair Ahmad
Bhat of Kanlibagh-Baramulla was detained
for the last four years without any trial. 140
After a visit of the Udhampur prison
in the first week of December 2004, the
Kashmir Bar Association accused the state
and police administration of not allowing
the detainees to attend the courts on false
excuses like non-availability of escort for
the purpose. According to the report, 66
prisoners hailing from Kashmir, seven
from Mahore-Jammu, three from Pakistan
and one from Tajikistan were not allowed
to attend courts where their cases have
been under trial. 141
VII. Internally Displaced Persons
There were about 2.5 lakh Kashmiri
pandits who have been internally displaced
and migrated to different parts of the
country since March 1990. Out of 56,380
migrant families, 34,644 families have been
staying in Jammu and 19,338 in Delhi. 142
The Kashmiri Pandits who comprised
the majority of the displaced peoples in the
state were able to draw attention of both
the Central and State governments and
their conditions have been comparatively
better than the others. The Kashmiri Pandit
migrants have been living in
accommodation provided by the
Government and are provided with
monthly relief and free ration. 143 Pursuant
to the commitment by Prime Minister Dr
Manmohan Singh during his visit to the
migrants’ camp at Muthi in Jammu on 18
November 2004, the central government