Kupwara: The body of a youth, Abdul Rashid Dar, who had gone missing from the army’s custody in December last year in the Kunan Poshpora area of Kupwara, has been retrieved, The Kashmir Walla has learnt. The body was handed over to the family on Wednesday afternoon.
Dar’s family confirmed to The Kashmir Walla that the body was handed over to the family. “The body was given to us [family] just a short while,” one of his brothers said, in a phone interview.
Speaking with The Kashmir Walla, Kunan village sarpanch Khursheed Ahmad said that the Kupwara district police chief called the family in the morning for identification after a body was recovered in the Zurhama forest area. “However, the family urged the police to bring the body to District Hospital Kupwara for identification and the post-mortem,” Ahmad said.
“The body is in a dilapidated condition. And it was hard to identify it. However, the family members later identified a mark on his body, confirming that it is their son,” Ahmad said.
Meanwhile, as soon as the news of the recovery of Dar’s body spread, the villagers assembled and staged a protest against the administration and the army. When Ahmad spoke on the phone, he added that the body was yet to be brought home.
On 22 December, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kupwara Yougal Manhas told reporters that Dar was detained by the army for questioning in connection with a militancy case. On 15 December, he escaped from the custody of the forces, police had said.
“On his revelation about the hideout, he gave a slip to the forces. We are investigating in which circumstances he managed to flee. We are in touch with his family also,” Manhas had said.
Notably, Dar’s family had protested in Srinagar’s press enclave earlier in January, alleging that their kin had ‘disappeared’ after he was taken in custody by the army.
This is a developing story.
