Srinagar: A young activist from Doda, whose detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) was quashed in 2016 by J&K high court, has again been booked under the controversial law, with his family and a member of J&K legislative assembly alleging that he was targeted by the authorities for his activism.
The action comes days after five trade union leaders from the adjoining Kishtwar district of Chenab Valley were slapped with the PSA and taken into preventive custody, allegedly for raising concerns over the increasing health risks and environmental degradation caused by the construction of power projects in the region.
The controversial legislation, which has been dubbed as a “lawless law” by Amnesty International, has been widely used to silence political dissidents and government critics in Jammu and Kashmir by the Union government after the reading down of Article 370 in 2019, according to free speech activists.
Though the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir now has an elected government, the police report to the Union ministry of home affairs via the lieutenant governor since the UT government’s limited mandate does not extend to law and order.
‘Sympathiser of militants’
In its latest action on November 9, Rehamatullah, 25, who lives in Dessa Bhatta of Doda, was booked under the PSA on charges of being an alleged “overground worker and sympathiser of militants” who posed a “threat to the security of the state”. The dossier (PSA 02 of 2024) also accused Rehamatullah of being “in continuous touch with ISI/PAK based settled militants”.
However, the five-page dossier, which has been prepared by the Senior Superintendent of Police (Doda) and approved by deputy commissioner Doda Harvinder Singh, does not refer to any formal anti-terror charges under which Rehamatullah has been booked in the past.
The dossier stated that the young activist has been booked in five FIRs (two of them for his speeches, one each for wrongful restraint, abduction and criminal trespass) and he has got bail from the courts in all the cases. It also referred to a Daily Dairy entry (No. 5 of August 2, 2024) against Rehamatullah at Doda police station.
The DD entry accused the young activist of purportedly using VPN for accessing the internet “so that his anti-national activities and his links across the border with PAK/POK based militant cannot be detected”.
“As evident from the above, it can be…concluded that the subject has maintained his links with the PAK/ POK based militants, which may have been used by foreign terrorists in killing defense forces personnel in multiple attacks in the district in the last 6 months. It is clear that the subject…has become a great threat to the security of the State,” the dossier noted.
Rehamatullah is the father of two minor children and the youngest among three siblings.
‘A big scam’
However, Doda MLA and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, Mehraj Malik sought to link the detention of Rehamatullah under the PSA with a video interview on November 6 in which the activist had accused the Doda deputy commissioner of failing to enforce the rules governing the disposal of solid waste in the town.
Against the backdrop of plumes of smoke rising from mounds of garbage, which he claimed had been set on fire by Doda town’s municipal authorities, Rehamatullah can be heard saying that the unscientific disposal of garbage was causing health issues for the residents. A Solid Waste Management Project was approved by the National Building Construction Corporation Limited in 2008 for Doda to collect garbage from 17 wards of the town and convert it into manure.
“The plant was supposed to minimise the negative impacts of solid waste on environment, quality of life and health. Why is the magistrate not taking suo moto cognisance? Why is the pollution control board and municipality silent? It is a big scam. Crore of rupees are being swindled. The government should look into it,” the activist had asked.
In another video on September 16, Rehamatullah can be heard appealing the people to use their democratic right to vote to give a “befitting reply” to the “forces of tyranny” and “those targeting the identity” of Jammu and Kashmir, “I appeal people to throng the polling booths and give a befitting reply to the tyrants by raising the slogan of ‘Inquilab zindabad’,” he said.
The Wire has reached out to the deputy commissioner, Doda, Harvinder Singh for comment. This story will be updated as and when the response is received.
‘Only raising his voice on public issues’
Fayaz Ahmad, Rehmatullah’s elder brother, said that there was a knock on their door at around 5 am on Sunday morning, “When my brother opened the door, the cops told him that he was wanted by one of their officers. Our elderly parents tried to protest but the cops warned them not to raise an outcry and go back inside,” he said.
Ahmad said that a team of nearly three dozen police personnel, including female officials, had cordoned their home before his brother was whisked away to Doda police station. “Just a day earlier, he had raised some uncomfortable questions about the poor quality of construction material used for building a sewer line near our home,” he said, adding that he was away in Jammu at the time of the raid at their home on Sunday.
Ahmad said that his brother’s activism had become a cause of anxiety for their parents also due to which he had handed the charge of his readymade garments store in Doda to his younger brother in order to keep him busy. “He was not doing anything wrong. He was only raising his voice on public issues. If asking the government officials and contractors to follow the rules is a crime, then he is guilty,” he said.
According to Ahmed, Rehamatullah was first booked under the PSA in 2016. He had recently started Urban Insights, a web portal which was registered as a micro enterprise (UDYAM-JK-05-0011305) with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises under the Union government in the information services sector. Through it, Rehamatullah had aimed to amplify the voices of people on civic issues in Doda.
Quashing his PSA in 2017, the J&K high court had observed that Rehamatullah was deprived of his “fundamental right” to make “effective representation” against his preventive detention.
Charges against five trade union leaders
The detention of Rehamatullah came days after five trade union leaders in the adjoining Kishtwar district were booked under the PSA amid growing concerns over the environmental degradation caused by the power projects in the district.
The detention of the five leaders was condemned by the Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, among others.
According to reports and several social media posts from journalists and activists in Chenab Valley, which comprises Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts, the five detainees had been flagging the issues of environmental degradation, poor compensation and health hazards triggered by pollution due to the ongoing construction of these power projects.
However, the administration has accused the five men of “anti-national activities” and “disturbing public order”. Doda-based journalist and editor of The Chenab Times, Anzer Ayoub said that the fact that the detainees were trade union leaders “is a gross abuse of power.”
Note: An earlier version of this report erroneously noted that the dossier was prepared by the Senior Superintendent of Police (Kishtwar).