‘How Many Children Have You Detained?’: Mehbooba Asks Amit Shah

Mufti’s daughter Iltija has sent a copy of her mother’s questions to the home secretaries of the government of India and Jammu and Kashmir.

The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti has sent a list of nine questions for India’s home minister Amit Shah.

The questions concern the number of detentions of residents of Jammu and Kashmir which the state has made. Mufti has also especially enquired about the number of children detained.

Mufti herself has been detained in her house since August 5 and has not had access to the internet, like the rest of Jammu and Kashmir. It appears that her Twitter account is now being operated by her daughter, Iltija Mufti.

Also read: Farooq Abdullah Detention: The Supreme Court Is Also on Trial

Iltija Mufti has sent a copy of her mother’s questions on the detentions to the home secretaries of the government of India and Jammu and Kashmir. Iltija has also posted these questions on Twitter.

Mufti’s first question is about how the number of people from Jammu and Kashmir who have been detained, arrested or placed under house arrest since August 5. She asks for a detailed list categorised by the district and the current status of the residents – whether they have been released or not – to be given to her. Mufti has also asked for the list of residents who have been detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act.

In addition, she has also asked for a specific list of minors who may be detained, arrested or placed under house arrest.

Mufti’s next query concerned all those who have been detained within Jammu and Kashmir and those have been taken elsewhere. She asks the government to provide her with the list of prisons or detention centres along with the various detainees in it.

She has further enquired if any of those detained or arrested have died and the number of detainees who have not been able to meet their relatives or friends.

Also read: ‘Urgent, Disturbing’: PIL in SC on Kashmir Children ‘Illegally Detained, Maimed’

She also asks how many habeas corpus petitions have been filed and how many have been released after court orders on their petitions.

Her last question involves the number of districts or places that have been placed under prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC which prohibits people from congregating. She has asked for a full list of these districts and the dates of orders issued under Section 144.

Iltija Mufti has not been able to meet her mother until a Supreme Court order one month later, on 5 September, that allowed it.

Another former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, has also been under house arrest since August 5. His last tweet on that day referred to his concern for people in the Pir Panchal and Chenab Valley where there have been incidents of communal violence in the past.