KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Kashmir High Court Bar Association has strongly condemned the “ill treatment” of Kashmiri detenues and undertrials prisoners in District Jail Kuthua, a statement issued by Bar General Secretary Bashir Sadiq said.
“Today, when a meeting of the Executive Committee members of the Bar Association was going on, certain family members and relatives of some of the detenues and undertrial prisoners who are lodged in Kuthua Jail, informed the Bar members, that the jail authorities have made the life of Kashmiri prisoners miserable, as they are beating them every day, without any rhyme or reason,” the statement said. “They stated that Kashmiri prisoners who are lodged in Kuthua jail, are also lodged in small cells, where they are further tortured by the jail staff. They also said that the jail authorities are not providing any medical assistance or treatment to these prisoners and they are also not being allowed to meet their family members and relatives, who come to meet them in the jail.”
The statement said they were informed that around 300 detenues and undertrial prisoners from Kashmir are lodged in Kathua.
“Because of the ill treatment meted out to them by the jail authorities, are so frightened that they don’t want even to narrate their woeful tail,” the statement quoted the delegation saying. “They through their family members have requested the Bar Association to take up the matter with International Red Cross, Amnesty International and Asia Watch, so that they visit the Kuthua Jail and see for themselves, as to how the Kashmiri prisoners are being maltreated in the said jail, by the jail authorities.”
The Bar Association said the jail authorities are not only violating the international covenants, but also the fundamental and constitutional rights of these prisoners, for which appropriate proceedings can be filed against them in any court of law. A jailed person, bar said, is not stripped off of his fundamental or constitutional rights. “He is entitled to every safeguard enshrined in the jail manual and any violation committed by the jail authorities of the said manual is punishable under the same manual, which may even end in their dismissal from their service,” the statement said.
Besides, the Bar has denounced the torching of schools, across the valley, by certain elements and terms the same to be the handiwork of those, who want to paint the legitimate struggle of the people of Kashmir, black. The Bar members also stated that the burning of schools is in no case acceptable and that those who indulge in such activities, should be identified and exposed before the public. The Bar members while terming the rigid attitude of the government and its functionaries to hold the examination in the month of November, 2016, wants them to listen the voice of the students who are asking for the postponement of the examinations as thousands of their colleagues have been detained in police stations, interrogation centres and jails and/or receiving treatment in the hospitals for the injuries inflicted on them by the ruthless forces.
The Bar members also condemned the continuous siege of the Jamia Masjid Srinagar, for the past 16th consecutive Fridays and terms the same as illegal and unlawful and also amounting to an interference with the religious affairs of the Muslim community of Kashmir and demands that the said siege should be removed and people should be allowed to offer their prayers at Jamia Masjid, Srinagar, without any restrictions being placed on them.
The Bar members also expressed their happiness on the release of Mohammad Yassin Malik who was yesterday shifted from SKIMS Soura to Central Jail Srinagar, in an illegal and arbitrary manner, without caring for the conditions of his health. The Bar Association also demands the release of other pro-freedom leaders viz. Shabir Ahmad Shah, Asiya Andarbi, Masarat Alam Bhat, Khurram Parvaiz, Dr. Hubbi, Zahid Ali Lone Advocate, Bashir Ahmad Bhat Advocate, Noor Mohammad Kalwal, Ayaz Akbar and many other detenues and undertrial prisoners, who are languishing in jails and whose release has been made impossible by the Govt. and its police, on one or the other unfounded and baseless ground. The Bar Association also request the Human Rights Organizations of the world to play their role in getting the aforesaid pro-freedom leaders, detenues and undertrial prisoners released and ensure that all the detenues and undertrial prisoners are treated well while in jail.
