SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: Police in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK) have registered a case against Indian Army personnel for tying a Kashmiri youth to a jeep as a human shield.
According to Indian media reports, the FIR was registered in the Beerwa police station in Budgam district of the valley after a video showing Farooq Ahmad Dar, a 26-year-old man, tied to an Indian Army jeep sparked outrage in the disputed region.
The case was registered on April 13 on the basis of the video which was believed to have been shot on April 9 when by-polls were being held for Srinagar’s parliamentary seat, reports said. The development was also confirmed by IoK police DIG Ghulam Hassan who spoke to the Hindustan Times.
IoK Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in a message posted on social media said: “In the ‘human shield’ video case FIR No 38/17 U/S 342/149/506&367 RPC has been registered in Police Station Beerwah on 13/4/17. The investigation is being conducted by SDPO Magam. We shall ensure that investigation are taken to a logical conclusion so that action is taken.”
Protests last week followed a botched by-election in which at least eight people were killed. Over the weekend two more videos circulated on social media showing workers of the ruling political party in the IoK renouncing mainstream politics, one of them beside a man wielding a gun.
Another video, allegedly showing the killing of a 17-year old by paramilitary officers during the April 9 by-election, has roused further anger.
“This is a phenomenon that has been going on for the last 27 years,” Khurram Parvez, a leading Kashmiri human rights activist jailed last year, told Reuters. “This is not the first human shield case. What is different now is that this case has been documented, thanks to social media.”
The treatment of Dar was “unlawful and unacceptable,” rights group Amnesty International said in a statement.
The director general of police in the state on Sunday told officers to avoid visiting their own homes in South Kashmir after militants stormed at least four officers’ houses.
Indian Army forces Kashmiris to chant anti-Pakistan slogans
Meanwhile, yet another horrific video of Indian forces’ torture on Kashmiri youth has surfaced in which forces are seen torturing students of a government college in Pulwama, IoK to make them chant anti-Pakistan slogans.
The shocking video comes in the wake of fierce clashes between civilians and the occupied forces in IoK which have left at least 12 people dead and dozen others injured.
Kashmir has been a disputed region between Pakistan and India since independence from Britain in 1947. Two of three wars have been fought over the valley. IoK witnessed deadly protests in 2016, after a popular leader, Burhan Wani, was killed by Indian forces. Last September, tension escalated when at least 19 Indian soldiers were killed in an assault on an army camp in Kashmir, an attack India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
