The Jammu and Kashmir police on Thursday thrashed a youth in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district amid the COVID-19 lockdown across Kashmir.
Taking to his Facebook account, the youth identified as Bhat Tawseef, wrote that he faced unnecessary brutality at the hands of police personnel for movement during the lockdown despite a curfew pass. He further added that due to the police beating, he was hospitalized.
Following the spread of the novel coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide 21-day lockdown across India.
This isn’t the first incident either. Multiple people have posted similar videos and photos on social media of misconduct at the hands of J-K police personnel.
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“I faced unnecessary brutality from the Jammu and Kashmir Police today,” he wrote, “which resulted in me being hospitalised with multiple fractures and my eye injured. You should read this because I’m just an example, there would be many more being exploited by those drunk in power.”
According to his post, he had left for Srinagar in the morning for his aunt’s appointment with a doctor following a recent surgery. He also acquired a curfew permit from District Magistrate in Kulgam. “While returning from Srinagar, I was stopped at Khudwani. The police men present asked me to stop and I obeyed. After that I showed them the permit which I had, to which they replied ‘Ye pass kisi aur ko dikhana ye 10 rupees ka dete hain District Magistrate wale, ye aise hi pass dete hain’ (show this pass to someone else, the District Magistrate issues this for Rs.10, this holds no value),” he wrote. “And then in blink of an eye I was brutally beaten up despite the fact that I was carrying the permit. They didn’t listen to me neither did they care to know the reason of my travel.”
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He further alleges that his uncle and aunt were also beaten by the police personnel. “If this was not enough, they further started beating my Uncle and Aunt, knowing the fact that she had just gone through a surgery. I was hospitalised in Kulgam District Hospital, with multiple fractures and an injured eye.”
Mr. Tawseef further questioned the act and said that under lockdown, people with medical emergencies are allowed to move – “But here the few Jammu and Kashmir policemen are too drunk in power that they oversee humanity. Women and patients hold no place in their eyes. Their uniform is the license for the violence that they are inflicting. Today it’s me, tomorrow it can be someone else in need. I strongly condemn this action and demand legal action against the violators.”
However, he added in the post, that Station House Office, Qaimoh, later intervened in the matter and “apologized for this misconduct and assured of necessary action but the question is, why.”
