Kashmir Custody Death: Police Files Murder Case Over Death Of Three Detainees By Indian Army

Three Jammu and Kashmir civilians died reportedly after the Indian Army detained them following the ambush on the Army convoy on December 21 in the Poonch Rajouri area. The ambush had taken four soldiers’ lives, while another three sustained injuries. On Friday, the Army had picked up eight men from the tribal Gujjar Bakkarwal community and three of them were later found dead with injuries on their bodies.

The five others among the detainees are currently undergoing treatment after the alleged torture, reported The Wire.

The three men – Mohammad Showkat, 22, Safeer Hussain, 45, and Shabir Ahmad, 32 – were taken by the Army at the hilly Topa Pir village in Poonch district on Friday, according to the family. The family also alleged that there were marks of torture on the body of one of the deceased. The authorities have not specified the cause of the death, though it pledged legal action and compensation.

“There were torture marks on his body. What kind of justice is this? He died of excessive torture,” said Noor Ahmad, brother of Safer Hussain, Al Jazeera reported.

However, according to the government source, the first information report (FIR) was registered at the Surankote police station in Poonch under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The Hindu reported that the case was registered following a “high-level intervention” from Delhi after a video which showed individuals believed to be army jawans stripping and sprinkling chilly power on the murdered detainees. The video is also thought to have been taken from an army camp.

However, attackers who ambushed the soldiers in the Poonch Rajouri areas, causing the death of four jawans are yet to be identified, according to the latest information.