SRINAGAR: Mysterious deaths of two tribal Gujjar brothers, whose bodies were recovered days apart recently after a month of disappearance, rocked J&K assembly Monday.
Opposition legislators and those of governing National Conference (NC), many waving placards, sought an inquiry into the “suspicious deaths”. Unlike in other states, the Omar Abdullah-led NC govt does not control J&K police, who are under the Centre-appointed lieutenant-governor (LG) Manoj Sinha in the Union Territory.
The MLAs also pressed for action against cops for allegedly beating up protesting women mourners after the second body was found in a decomposed condition Sunday in a river in J&K’s Kulgam district. The other had been found nearby on March 13.
Showkat Ahmad Bajad and brother Riyaz had been missing since Feb 13. There is still no trace of Mukhtar Ahmad Awan village, a relative of the brothers who had accompanied them to a wedding in the Mir Bazar area of the same district the day all three went missing. The three worked in a brick kiln.
“It seems part of the pattern,” People’s Democratic Party (PDP) legislator Waheed Parra said on Monday. He alleged several such unexplained deaths in J&K in the past few months within the nomadic Gujjar community. Parra cited another youth’s suicide after alleged police torture in Kathua last month as well as the latest deaths in Kulgam, saying all should probed as they were tied to one specific community.
NC MLAs Nazir Gurazi and Qaisar Jamsheed Lone expressed concern over the situation in J&K deteriorating to an extent where people just vanished and their bodies were found days and weeks later. Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary of NC pressed for a fair investigation into the Kulgam deaths.
On Monday, local authorities did not allow PDP’s Iltija Mufti to visit Kulgam. PDP member Talib Hussain, who was at the site when Showkat’s body was found on Sunday, had accused police of baton-charging mourners when they questioned how investigators had arrived at suicide as the cause of death.
Back in the assembly, Sajad Lone, People’s Conference MLA from Handwara, flagged the alleged police atrocities, calling images of a police officer kicking female relatives of the deceased brothers “utterly disdainful”. “The whole action reeks of contempt within the minds of those who are supposed to protect masses. It is almost a daily occurrence,” Lone said. J&K police said they had ordered an inquiry into the officer’s conduct.
Investigators said the brothers may have died by suicide. This was based on conclusions of a forensic expert, Dr Azia Manzoor Bhat, that Riyaz’s body indicated he had drowned and the case “doesn’t look homicidal in nature”.
On Feb 6, a week before the Kulgam brothers went missing, 25-year-old tribal Makhan Din died by suicide alleging torture by police in Kathua district. He recorded a video before his death claiming cops were forcing him into confessing links with militants.
