SIT: Army tortured Kupwara resident

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 22

The J&K Police investigation has accused the Army of forcibly taking a Kupwara resident into their camp and “severely torturing him with an intention to kill” before throwing him out of the camp gate in a critical condition.

While Nasrullah Khan was shifted to a hospital, the whereabouts of Manzoor Khan of Devar Lolab, Kupwara, who is also alleged to have been detained by the Army along with Nasrullah Khan on August 31, 2017, are not known yet.

The government had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Additional SP, Kupwara, to investigate the matter and trace the whereabouts of Manzoor.

Now, the SIT head in his detailed report to the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has revealed that as per the docket sent by an ASI, who was deputed from Lalpora police station in Kupwara to investigate the matter, it was found during inquiry that on August 31 last year, Nasrullah went to his ‘behak’ (grazing ground) at Trimukha Top and as usual proceeded to an Army camp of 27 Rashtriya Rifles headed by Maj Nishant Gupta to make his entry as per the procedure put in place by the Army.

“However, he was forcibly taken inside the camp and wrongly confined there. He was severely tortured with an intention to kill,” it said.

The locals raised an alarm after which Nasrullah was thrown out of the rear gate of the Army camp in a “critically injured condition”. An FIR for attempt to murder was registered against the Army and investigation was taken up, the report said.

The police report said after a lot of persuasions, the Army authorities presented the accused, other Army officers and officials at the headquarters of 8 Sector Rashtriya Rifles for “questioning” during which they “denied their involvement in the case”.

The SIT had also obtained the entry register of the gate, which became the basis for questioning the accused.

However, further investigation into the case was going on, says the SIT in its report as Manzoor Khan continues to be missing.

Troops deny charges 

The police report said after a lot of persuasions, the Army authorities presented the accused, other Army officers and officials at the headquarters of 8 Sector Rashtriya Rifles for questioning during which they "denied their involvement in the case"