|
Govt books stone pelters for
waging war against country
Young men
throwing stones in valley can face life term, even death penalty
Sansardeep S.
Wanjara
 SRINAGAR: It
just takes a judge who is not asleep on the job to find out the
truth and to expose the intentions of a state that is hell bent on
taking away all civil rights of its citizenry with the sleight of a
hand. In
Kashmir,
a judge remanded young boys to15 days of remand, but only after
exposing the speciousness of the case against them.
Here were a
bunch of young children, many of them school going, who were brought
to the court by the police for charges so serious that the Indian
government is almost on the verge of deciding that it could amount
to waging a war against the state. These children had committed a
crime no serious than, as the police claims, throwing stones at the
police which was chasing them, caning them, throwing teargas shells
at them and prohibiting them from protesting at one place. As for
the kids, they deny they were even doing that.
The world will
be aghast to know, if only the Indian media finds the time to tell
the world by taking a leave of bollywood stars, that the
Jammu-Kashmir government has decided to arrest stone-pelters for
‘waging war against the state’, a crime punishable with death or
life in jail.
 The young kids
who were brought to the court have been slapped with the Public
Safety Act. The young ones credited with waging war against the
state are all between 15 and 18 years old. Soon, the state may also
decide to reward the police officials for averting such a serious
attack against the Indian establishment. After all, the stone could
have demolished out of existence
South Asia’s
nuclear bully!
Now, the Indian
Express newspaper has reported that the government was ready with
PSAs against “20 more such youths”. For the 16 youths produced
before a
Srinagar Court
last Monday, police got their remand for eight days, granted by
Judge Masarat Jabeen. The boys, the investigating officer told the
court, were directly involved in pelting stones at police and
security forces. However, counsel for the accused Rafique Joo said
the youths were held in random raids across the city and were not
involved in stone-pelting. He opposed booking of youth under Section
121 of CrPC.
Who is Zahoor
Ahmad? Shouted Masrat Jabeen, sitting on a raised platform in
the14x14 room with three rows of chairs. "Yes madam. Present madam",
replied the chubby one, standing among 16 jostled youth.
"How did you
know all the names of the arrested youth in advance?" Justice Jabeen
asked the investigation officer of the police. "Through reliable
sources," replied the investigation officer.
|
The
young ones credited with waging war against the state are all
between 15 and 18 years old. Soon, the state may also decide to
reward the police officials for averting such a serious attack
against the Indian establishment. After all, the stone could have
demolished out of existence
South Asia’s
nuclear bully! |
|
"How is it
possible? I don't know anyone of these boys. Who are these reliable
sources?" asked the judge. To which the investigation officer,
looking at the floor, said: "They are active stone-throwers for the
last five years."
There was sudden
commotion in the court room, when Zahid, one of the accused,
interjected, saying, "This is for the first time we are in the lock
up," adding he was just 16-year-old and a school-goer, who was on
the bike when the police arrested him.
The boy, wearing
a pair of jeans and a jacket, started crying and was joined by
others in the room, with the lawyer, Muhammad Rafiq Joo, requesting
them to wipe out tears and be quiet. "Don't worry justice will be
done," said Joo, adding, since Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told the
media that a crackdown would be launched against the stone-pelters,
the police were picking up anyone who came in the way.
This was much
like arresting Sikh youth in Punjab in the late 1980s because there
were three of them riding on a motorbike and therefore the evident
conclusion: they all must be terrorists. If they tried speeding
away, they could be legitimately shot dead. And in that case, a
couple of illegal guns used to be planted on their bodies and they
would be passed off next day as Babbar Khalsa’s dreaded terrorists.
In the Kashmiri
court room, the boys -- in the age group of 15 to 22 and brought to
the court in heavy chains -are facing charges like waging war
against the state and insulting the national honour. The punishment
includes life imprisonment.
The boys have
been arrested from downtown
Srinagar
and were presented before the court by the Nowhatta police station.
Lawyer Joo
contested that the police couldn't impose `waging a war against the
nation' unless a magistrate had done an investigation.
While the
weeping boys in chains left the court room in a row, their relatives
shook hands with them. The boys kept pleading their innocence: "We
were not involved. They did let go the stone-pelters and arrested
us," they said.
While a
policeman shouted back: "They have snatched our peace."
J&K first
started booking stone-pelters under the Public Safety Act during the
2008 Amarnath land row agitation. The first person to be booked was
Nayeem Ahmad of Rainawari, Srinagar. Though he was released shortly
after, Ahmad was again picked up in June last year during protests
over the death of two women in Shopian.
17
February 2010
|
Read Also