KL Report

SRINAGAR

A young man who felt lured to J&K government’s return and rehabilitation policy and returned home is in police custody for last 13 days with his minor kids being taken care of by his relatives. Police on Monday insisted they would require him and managed to get a remand for a few days more.

Rangrez and his his wife Sumeera
Rangrez and his his wife Sumeera

Arshad Hussain Rangrez, the man who is behind bars with his Pakistani wife, had returned through Nepal along with two other youth from Kashmir. Unlike his Kashmiri counterparts, Rangrez is in formal detention and the family has failed to secure release of his wife.

Informed sources from Doda told Kashmir Life that Rangrez is understood to have crossed the LoC for becoming a militant somewhere in 1992. However, he settled there and completed his engineering graduation. He was appointed in Worldcom company because of his electronics engineering experience and was settled.

His counsel told Kashmir Life that Rangrez told the family, police and the court that he was settled after marrying Sumeera. The couple lived in fashionable Gulbarg Colony of Lahore. They had three children Mahrukh Arshad (9 years),
Adeeba Arshad (6 years) and Mohammad Ahmed (4 years).

The start of return and rehabilitation policy led his parents back home to initiate his return. They are reported to have followed the process formally. “I could see a letter in the case diary of Rangrez in which SSP Doda has informed his IGP that the person is not involved in any case,” Asim Hashmi, his counsel said. “It was only after the process was completed that he return and he did not face any problem till he reached Doda on February 10, 2014 and approached the local police station.”

Police arrested him immediately and later his wife as well. They registered FIR 25 of 2014 under sections 10 and 13 of Unlawful Activities Act, 14/14 Foreigners Act and section 3 of Ingress and Internal Movement Act.

As the long arm of the law caught Rangrez in the police station itself, the family approached the court. It is yet to secure the release of the couple. The family says managing release of their daughter-in-law is the critical priority.

Initially kids stayed with the mother. Later, the court gave their custody to Rangrez’s brother. “But the problem is the kids do not know their custodians,” Hashmi said. “They see them as aliens and they only cry.” Though this aspect of the case was raised in the court room, the police insisted they need the couple for interrogation and would required them for some time more.

Youth who return home under the scheme are being arrested routinely for de-briefing. But in case, they lack any criminal history in the police records, no fresh case is being registered against them. But Rangrez’s case seems to be interestingly different.

The case was reported within a few days after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah talked about the good intentions of the system that led to the initiation of the scheme. He said 268 individuals along with their families have returned home under the scheme till January 31, 2014. “Cases under relevant provisions of law have been registered against these individuals,” a state home ministry response on this issue said.

The state government has received 1171 applications of which 422 cases were recommended by various security and intelligence agencies.

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