Conflict

Old city’s Rajouri Kadal witnesses protest against detention of youth

fpk photo/mohammad amaan

Srinagar: One of the family members of nine youth detained by the Special Operation Group (SOG) in November, last year, staged a three-hour protest in Rajouri Kadal area of Srinagar’s downtown on Thursday morning.

What triggered the family to come out on roads was a WhatsApp forward, which claimed that the police have handed over all the nine persons to the National Investigating Agency (NIA).

The youth were arrested by the police last year for alleged militant links.

Furqan Abbas Bhat, elder brother of Wahid Bhat – one of the nine accused – told the Free Press Kashmir at his residence that the circulated news was a report by a local news agency, which was further carried by several newspapers the next day.

At around 10:00 am in the morning, the Bhat family, mostly the women members, came out at the main chowk and raised anti-India slogans demanding the release of Wahid.

As per his elder brother Furqan, he was picked up by the SOG on November 24 at around 1:00 am in the night, over the suspicion that he provided shelter to two militants at his residence. Wahid lived in a separate house from that of his family.

The family has hired a lawyer and have requested for bail. He got engaged a few months back and the wedding is now on-hold since his arrest.

After about three hours of protest by the family, at around 1:00 pm, the policemen came to the spot and confronted the family members.

“All the nine are still in central jail and there’s nothing to worry about,” a police officer said, addressing the protesting crowd.

“The news that they have been handed to the NIA is fake, please don’t pay heed to WhatsApp rumours,” he added.

An FIR has been lodged by the Police Station Kothi Bagh on the news agency for spreading “factually incorrect” news.

“This case was subsequently taken over by NIA and all the arrested accused persons in this case are presently in Judicial Custody,” the police spokesperson said in a rebuttal issued the same day.

30-year-old Wahid is the youngest among three brothers and has ageing parents.

On November 23, two persons identified as Tahir Ahmad Khan of Tral and Haris Mushtaq Khan of Wathora Budgam were arrested near TRC, Srinagar.

In the next couple of days, seven more were detained by the respective police station and handed over to SOG. They were arrested on the basis of alleged links with the militants.

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