SRINAGAR: The mysterious death of 30-year-old Kashmiri garment and handicrafts trader Zubair Ahmad Bhat in Delhi has triggered anger across the Valley, with the family alleging custodial torture and political leaders demanding accountability. Delhi Police deny foul play, but questions continue to swirl over what really happened in the final days of the young businessman’s life.
According to a report in The Telegraph (June 6), Bhat’s family alleges that he was picked up and tortured by Delhi Police. A female relative told the paper that Zubair had sent a message to his family saying, “He said he was beaten with rods but urged us not to tell his mother as she would die (on hearing about it).”
The family said Bhat had travelled to Delhi in late May to receive Bangladeshi buyers connected to his handicrafts work. But on June 3, he was found injured inside a park in Lajpat Nagar. Police claimed he had been “banging his head against the walls.”
Quoting the Delhi Police, The Indian Express (June 5) reported: “Eyewitnesses and residents of the area claimed he was wandering around the locality on Tuesday before he started banging his head on the walls inside the park… One of the residents, also a doctor, informed the police and immediately took the victim to a hospital where he was undergoing treatment. He later died.”
Police said his injuries appeared “self-inflicted” and suggested drug abuse, citing “many syringe marks” on his body.
Yet, the family paints a very different picture. According to The Telegraph, Zubair’s sister and brother showed Iltija Mufti, PDP leader and daughter of former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, a WhatsApp message that read, “Police snatched his Aadhaar card after finding he was a Kashmiri. After that, he was beaten with rods… When he went again to retrieve the Aadhaar card, he was beaten again.”
Iltija, who visited the family in Srinagar’s Ali Kadal locality, said bluntly, “Zubair Ahmed Bhat didn’t die under mysterious circumstances. Let me bite the bullet & state the unpleasant truth. His family claims he was picked up by Delhi police, questioned & thrashed with rods,” she posted on X.
Speaking to reporters, she went further, “There is proper proof… The doctors refused to treat him because he was a Kashmiri. His brother said each time he tried to talk, he was sedated. Are Kashmiris to be tortured to death for merely existing?”
No hospital has officially responded to these claims. Delhi Police, meanwhile, continue to deny any wrongdoing. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) Hemant Tiwari told The Telegraph: “There are no signs of physical abuse and no injury marks on his body. There is no indication of foul play.”
But many in the Valley aren’t convinced.
PDP leader Zuhaib Yousuf Bhat linked the incident to the “xenophobia post-Pahalgam incident,” referring to the deadly April 22 attack on tourists in south Kashmir. “I hope an investigation is done in a timely manner and justice is served,” he said.
Former Srinagar mayor Junaid Azim Mattu called for an impartial probe into what he said were “mysterious circumstances indicating physical assault.”
Back in Srinagar, Zubair was buried in his native Sehyar Ali Kadal locality, where slogans against “killings of Kashmiris” echoed through the funeral procession. Family members and mourners demanded justice.
While Delhi Police await the final post-mortem report, the political heat is rising in Kashmir. The National Conference-led government has come under fire from opposition parties for maintaining what the PDP called a “deafening silence” on the death.
As the Valley reels from the shock and seeks clarity, the question remains: was Zubair Bhat another victim of profiling and prejudice, or, as Delhi Police maintain, a tragic case of mental health and substance use?
For now, the last word belongs to his grieving sister: “He left with a file of buyers and samples. He returned in a coffin.”
