BEMINA
A Srinagar court has convicted a man, his mother and his brother of murdering his wife, Tasleema, by smothering her at their Bemina home in June 2022. Additional Sessions Judge Farooq Ahmad Bhat acquitted the two sisters-in-law, giving them the benefit of doubt. The court relied on medical evidence establishing homicidal smothering and circumstantial evidence pointing to the three convicts. The prosecution presented evidence of prolonged marital discord and alleged harassment over the woman’s inability to conceive. The court also held that the accused had failed to explain the circumstances surrounding her death. The three were convicted under Sections 302 and 120-B of the IPC, relating to murder and criminal conspiracy. The court acquitted them of the charge of destroying evidence. The mother-in-law, Hafeeza Begum, was taken into custody, while arguments on sentencing were scheduled separately.
The Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) has achieved 94.3% of its 2026-27 target in Jammu and Kashmir, allotting 4,715 scholarships against the annual target of 5,000.
GANDERBAL
IAS officer Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, Secretary, Labour and Employment, is facing an inquiry after a video showed him allegedly abusing Beenish Wani, a JKAS officer posted as Assistant Director at the Employment and Counselling Centre in Ganderbal, during a review meeting on Mission YUVA.
Wani was briefing the meeting through video conferencing on the targets achieved by her office and the assistance provided by the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) when Ranjan repeatedly interrupted her. He allegedly told her to “shut up”, called her “bloody shit” and said, “I am your boss, stupid.” When she objected, he reportedly asked a woman staff member to prepare her suspension order. Ranjan also directed that her remarks be recorded and the General Administration Department (GAD) be informed that she should be removed from service.
The incident triggered condemnation from the entire political class, engineers and the JKAS fraternity, which said accountability and performance monitoring could not justify abusive or intimidating conduct by a superior officer. Rejecting the department’s claim that the video was AI-generated, it sought an impartial inquiry, protection for Wani against retaliation and misconduct proceedings against Ranjan. The GAD has appointed Mandeep Kaur, Commissioner, Housing and Urban Development, as inquiry officer, with a report due within 15 days. Neither officer was available for comment. The controversy comes as Ranjan is already facing a CBI investigation into the issuance of arms licences to non-residents and a disproportionate assets case registered last year.
AMARNATH
The Centre has invited proposals to prepare detailed project reports for seven ropeway projects in Jammu and Kashmir, including three spanning 48 km on both routes to the Amarnath cave shrine. The proposed links comprise a 14-km Pahalgam-Chandanwari stretch, a 23-km Chandanwari-cave stretch and an 11.6-km ropeway from the Baltal side. The National Highways Logistics Management Limited is overseeing the projects under the Parvatmala Pariyojana. The ropeways could ease the arduous pilgrimage, particularly for elderly and medically vulnerable devotees. Four other projects are proposed for Sonamarg-Thajiwas Glacier, Nasri Tunnel-Sanasar, Bhaderwah-Seojdhar and Doodpathri. The proposals remain at the planning stage.
KARGIL
The Ladakh administration has formally notified Sankoo as the Union Territory’s eighth district, with headquarters at Sankoo, following a prolonged local campaign for district status. The Revenue Department notification brings Sankoo, GM Pore, TSG and Taisuru tehsils and their revenue villages under the new district, revising Kargil’s territorial jurisdiction accordingly.
Sankoo was excluded when Home Minister Amit Shah announced five new districts for Ladakh in August 2024, triggering protests and a shutdown. Local representatives subsequently formed the United Movement for Sankoo District Status, arguing that the area, about 45 km from Kargil headquarters, served several remote localities.
The five districts, Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang, were formally notified this year, taking Ladakh’s district count from two to seven. Kargil’s leadership had welcomed the move but sought separate notifications for Sankoo and Shakar-Chiktan Shargole. With Sankoo’s demand now fulfilled, Shakar-Chiktan remains awaiting district status.
KASHMIR
A systematic review of 16 studies published between 2006 and 2025 has found substantial levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among civilians in Kashmir, with estimates in community-based adult studies ranging from 15.9 per cent to 24.5 per cent in the review’s summary.
The review found that the burden of trauma-related distress was associated with cumulative exposure to conflict-related events, socioeconomic disadvantage, gender, serious injuries and the loss of family members during childhood. It also found that PTSD frequently co-occurred with depression and anxiety, with symptoms reported years after exposure in some populations. The authors caution that differences in study populations, screening instruments and diagnostic methods prevent the findings from being interpreted as a single, definitive prevalence rate for the entire population.
KASHMIR
The Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board’s proposal to prescribe common themes for Friday sermons across mosques and affiliated institutions has triggered opposition, raising concerns over bureaucratic interference in religious affairs. Under the proposed arrangement, sermon topics would be decided in advance and approved by a committee of preachers.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has called the move unacceptable and urged the Board’s chairperson to withdraw it, accusing the BJP of interfering in Muslim religious affairs. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said sermon content should be left to religious scholars and demanded that the Waqf Board be brought under the elected government’s administrative control.
The Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema, headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has also opposed the proposal, insisting that religious guidance belongs to Ulema, imams and recognised religious bodies. The proposal raises a fundamental question: administrative oversight may be necessary for institutional accountability, but prescribing sermon themes risks turning religious guidance into a bureaucratically managed exercise.
BANDIPORA
A pregnant woman from Gurez and her unborn baby died after snowfall and movement restrictions allegedly delayed her referral to District Hospital Bandipora, with the family accusing authorities of failing to facilitate timely evacuation.
Haseen Bagem, wife of Showket Hameed Lone of Mazgund village in Tulail, was taken to PHC Sheikhpora late Tuesday, where her family said no medical staff was available. She was shifted to SDH Gurez, where doctors found her blood levels low and advised referral to Bandipora.
The family alleged that despite assurances from Project Beacon to clear the road ahead of the ambulance, the SDM Gurez did not allow them to proceed. Bagem remained in pain overnight, and the baby was stillborn at SDH Gurez around midnight. She was brought dead to Bandipora hospital around 8 am Wednesday, a senior doctor said. The family also questioned the local facility’s blood shortage despite a blood bank inauguration months earlier.
JAMMU
After decades of inter-state disputes and delays, Jammu and Kashmir is receiving water from Punjab’s Shahpur Kandi barrage through the Ravi-Tawi irrigation canal, but a deteriorated canal network is preventing the Union Territory from using its full allocation. Water supply began on May 4, 2026, and targeted repairs have enabled the 79.9-km canal to carry around 400-500 cusecs against its designed capacity of 1,150 cusecs. The canal is intended to irrigate over 32,000 hectares of largely rain-fed agricultural land in Kathua and Samba districts, where water scarcity has left substantial areas underutilised.
The Irrigation and Flood Control Department has submitted a revised Rs 534-crore modernisation proposal to the Central Water Commission. Officials estimate that comprehensive restoration could take nearly two years after approval and release of funds. Meanwhile, limited repairs are being undertaken through the UT Capex budget.
The revival is significant, but decades of neglect have left the infrastructure unable to deliver the full benefit of the long-delayed project. Ramgarh currently receives canal water only two days a week, underscoring the gap between securing water and delivering it reliably to farmers.
PAMPORE
The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has directed authorities to physically inspect Kashmir Medical College and its attached 650-bedded teaching hospital and submit a compliance report by October 21, amid a dispute over permission to admit 150 MBBS students for the 2026-27 session.
Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani issued the direction after authorities sought more time to report compliance with an earlier court order. They have also been asked to reconsider their September 29 decision in light of the inspection findings and earlier appellate and judicial orders.
The college, a unit of Milli Trust at Sempora, Srinagar, has sought reconsideration of the decision and provisional inclusion of its 150 seats in the NEET-UG 2026 counselling matrix. It alleges that the authorities failed to implement the Second Appellate Authority’s August 24 order. With the academic session expected to begin in the last week of October, the inspection could prove crucial to resolving the uncertainty over admissions.
POONCH
Four people were killed in a blast near the Line of Control in Poonch on October 12, but India and Pakistan have offered sharply conflicting accounts of the incident. Indian media reports, citing security sources, said four suspected Pakistani militants were killed while attempting to infiltrate through the Krishna Ghati sector. The explosion was attributed to an IED in the forward area. Pakistani authorities, however, identified the deceased as Faizan Sagheer, Ishtiaq, Asim Rafiq and Waqas Sharif, saying they were civilians repairing a water pipeline near Mahandlah and Madarpur villages when a landmine allegedly drifting from the Indian side exploded. They blamed difficult terrain and shifting mines along the disputed frontier. There was no immediate Indian response to the allegation. With no independently established account of the circumstances, the competing claims underline the risks of reporting incidents along the LoC, where military tensions and civilian vulnerability intersect.
SRINAGAR
Srinagar software engineer Mudasir Ali has developed WildPing.org, a free wildlife alert platform that notifies residents about reported sightings of bears, leopards and other animals near their homes, farms and workplaces, following the death of his mother in a bear attack in 2020.
The platform allows users to create watch zones around locations they want to monitor and receive alerts about sightings reported within a 2.5-km radius. A live map displays recent reports, helping residents assess wildlife activity before travelling through an area.
Designed as a Progressive Web App, WildPing can be installed through a browser on Android phones and iPhones without downloading it from an app store. It supports English, Hindi and Urdu. Ali has incorporated verification measures to discourage false reports, including registration checks, restrictions on repeated submissions and community flagging of suspicious sightings. The platform is intended to complement, not replace, the Wildlife Protection Department and emergency services. Its effectiveness will depend on timely, accurate reporting, and alerts cannot guarantee protection.
For Ali, the initiative is a tribute to his mother, with the hope that timely warnings may spare other families a similar tragedy.
