Tag: irfan ahmad dar

UN Experts Ask India for Clarifications on Human Rights Violations Against 3 Kashmiri Men

The independent experts say they are concerned about “allegations of arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance and torture and ill-treatment committed against” related to Waheed Para, Irfan Ahmad Dar and Naseer Ahmad Wani.

New Delhi: Raising concerns about violations of international treaty obligations, independent United Nations human rights experts have asked the Indian government to provide details about the continuing detention of a politician, the alleged custodial killing of a shopkeeper and the two-year-old disappearance of a teenager in Kashmir.

The communication from five experts, dated March 31, was recently publicly uploaded on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“These allegations are part of what appears to be an ongoing pattern of serious violations of human rights by police, army, security agencies and the judiciary in the Jammu and Kashmir region, warrants in our view the most serious attention on the part of the highest authorities,” said the letter to the Indian government.

It was undersigned by special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Nils Melzer, vice-chair of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) Elina Steinerte, chair-rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances Tae-Ung Baik, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard, and special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism Fionnuala Ní Aoláin.

The UN experts, who received their mandate from UN Human Rights Council, said they had received information related to “allegations of arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance and torture and ill-treatment committed against” related to Waheed Para, Irfan Ahmad Dar and Naseer Ahmad Wani.

According to the information received by the UN experts, Para, the People’s Democratic Party youth wing president, was arrested on November 25, 2020, three days after he filed his nomination to run for district development council elections.

Also read: Explained: The Controversy Around PDP Youth Leader Waheed Para’s Detention

Para also had participated in a closed virtual meeting with “current and future members of the UN Security Council” in July 2020, where he had raised concerns about the Indian government’s actions in Jammu and Kashmir, treatment of minorities and border tensions with China.

Following that meeting, Para allegedly received threats from officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that if he didn’t stop speaking against the Indian government, action would be taken against him.

In the allegations made public regarding Para’s case, the UN experts noted that there were complaints that the PDP leader was kept “in a dark underground cell at subzero temperature, was deprived of sleep, kicked, slapped, beaten with rods, stripped naked and hung upside down”. All this has apparently been recorded, and Para was examined multiple types by a government doctor and psychiatrist.

Para, a former journalist, got bail from an NIA court in January this year. But within a few hours of his release, Para was arrested by Counter-Intelligence in Kashmir (CIK) under a different charge related to providing financial support to terrorist groups. He remains in custody.

“Our concern in the case of Mr Waheed Para is heightened by the fact that his arrest and detention appear to be linked to his interaction with UN Security Council members, which would amount to acts of reprisals for such cooperation,” said the UN experts.

Last September, members of the northern Kashmir by Jammu and Kashmir Police Special Operations Group (SOG) raided the house of a 23-year-old shopkeeper, Irfan Ahmad Dar, in Sopore and detained him. The next day, his family learned that Dar had died.

The police claimed that he died while trying to escape from custody. Dar’s family contested that he died in police custody. The family also filed a petition in the high court seeking a copy of the magisterial inquiry report and FIR into the alleged custodial death.

Also read: J&K: Killing of 2 Young Men by Unknown Gunmen Stuns Anantnag Village

Two years ago, 19-year-old Naseer Ahmad Wani’s house was raided by a team of 44 Rashtriya Rifles (44 RR). The complaint was that Wani’s phone was allegedly being used by militant organisations.

He was beaten and taken to the police station. Since then, has family has had no news of him. The army told his family that Dar had been released, but he never returned home.

Among the eight points on which India’s clarifications were sought, the UN experts sought urgent information “on the fate and current whereabouts of Mr Naseer Ahmad Wani”.

They also asked for details of investigations into allegations made about the treatment of the three Kashmiri men. “If no investigation has been initiated, please explain why and how this is compatible with the international human rights obligations of India,” the letter said.

The UN experts also asked for information on the factual basis “justifying the recourse to terrorism related charges levied against Mr Waheed Para, and how this is compatible with the obligation to pursue counter-terrorism obligations consistent with international law as set out inter alia the United Nations Security Resolution 1373”.

They asked for clarification on whether the move was compatible with the “reasonable understanding of the definition of terrorism in international law norms including the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1566 (2004) and the model definition of terrorism provided by the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism”.

In the letter, the UN experts observed that these allegations are part of an “ongoing pattern of serious violations of human rights by police, army, security agencies and the judiciary in the Jammu and Kashmir region, warrants in our view the most serious attention on the part of the highest authorities”.

The UN experts cautioned that they might publicly express their concerns soon, as the public “should be informed about the implications of these allegations on the exercise and enjoyment of their human rights”.

J&K Police Deny Post-Mortem Report to Family of Slain Man Saying it Would ‘Impede Probe’

Irfan Ahmad Dar (23) died in September 2020 after he was picked up by police. He was dubbed as an overground worker for militants by the police, a claim which his family denies.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Police has refused to provide the post-mortem of 23-year-old Irfan Ahmad Dar, who died after being picked up by police in September last year in north Kashmir’s Sopore town, to his family, saying it will impede the investigation in the case.

Irfan’s death had sparked off protests in the town, with his family accusing the police of killing him in custody. However, the police had claimed that he was an overground worker (OGW) for militants and his dead body was found after he escaped from their custody.

Disclosure will impede investigation: Police

The police officer, designated as public information officer (PIO) by the police district Sopore under the Right to Information Act, has denied the family access to the slain’s post-mortem report, saying disclosure of such information will hamper investigation in the case.

“Refer your application dated 08-02-2021 where-under you have sought postmortem report of deceased Irfan Ahmad Dar S/O Muhammad Akbar R/O Sideeq Colony Sopore. I have perused your application and (I) am of the opinion that the disclosure of the information will impede the investigation. As such, the information asked by you is denied under section 8(h) of the Act,” reads the PIO’s order on an application filed under the RTI Act by Javed Akbar Dar, brother of deceased Irfan.

“You can make an appeal against this denial before First Appellate Authority i.e. Sr. Superintendent of Police Sopore,” it further states.

Also read: Family Accuse J&K Police of Killing Sopore Man in Custody, Question ‘Escape’ Story

Speaking to The Wire, Javed alleged that the authorities are refusing to share the report because they know the lies peddled by them to cover the killing of his brother will be exposed.

“Why are they not making the inquiry report as well as the post-mortem report public? Why are they concealing facts? I know they won’t make these reports public because their crime will be exposed,” he alleged.

Advocate Shafqat Nazir, lawyer of the family, said that authorities cannot deny access to the post-mortem to the family. “Since the copy of the postmortem report cannot be denied to the family of the deceased under Section 8 of the RTI Act, 2005, therefore, we will file an appeal against denial of information before the appellate authority,” he said.

In 2011, the Central Information Commission had ruled that access to a postmortem report cannot be denied under the RTI Act.

File photo of members of Irfan Ahmad Dar’s family protesting in Sopore. Photo: Peerzad Waseem.

“A postmortem report is a factual report based on forensic analysis of a dead body. It is impossible to argue that disclosing the postmortem report would impede the process of investigation since it is only a statement of facts. The investigations or subsequent prosecution have to be based on the facts as discovered during the postmortem. In view of this, the Commission does not accept the plea that a postmortem report is covered by Section 8(1) (h) of the RTI Act,” reads the order passed by  Shailesh Gandhi, information commissioner.

Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act exempts “information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offender”.

Death and police version

On September 15 last year, at around 12:30 pm, members of the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Special Operation Group (SOG) raided the house of Irfan, a 23-year-old shopkeeper living at Sidiq Colony in the Sopore town.

Irfan was arrested from the shop he owned, adjacent to his house.

At around 3:30 pm, the SOG again raided his house.  This time, the police detained his 30-year-old brother, Javid, and took him to the SOG camp, located at Townhall in Sopore. Javid was released later that night but on the morning of September 16, the family came to know that Irfan died.

The police had claimed that Irfan was an overground worker of militants, and his dead body was found after he had “escaped taking advantage of darkness and terrain” when they had taken him to a place for “some more recovery”.

According to a statement issued by police, Irfan was arrested on September 15 and two hand grenades were recovered from him.

“During the course of the investigation, a police team visited Chairdaji area of Tujjar-Sharief (village) along with the OGW for effecting some more recovery on the disclosure of the OGW. In the meanwhile, the OGW while taking advantage of darkness and terrain managed to escape… and during search, the body of OGW was found near a stone quarry of Tujjar-Sharief,” the police said.

The family contested the police version, saying that Irfan was killed in custody by police and he had no links with militancy.

The post-mortem of the body was conducted at Police hospital Srinagar and was buried at Sonamarg in Ganderbal, 100 kilometres away from their home.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the authorities in J&K have quietly buried the bodies of militants killed in gunfights at Sonmarg in Ganderbal district or at Gantamulla in Baramulla.

Family moves high court

The family has also filed a petition in Jammu and Kashmir high court, seeking a copy of a magisterial inquiry report and filing of FIR into the alleged custodial death.

In the petition, the family has sought a copy of the magisterial inquiry report conducted by additional deputy commissioner, Baramulla, on the directions of the district magistrate.

The district magistrate Baramulla had ordered a probe into the death after the family members of the deceased alleged that he was killed in custody.

Also read: Kashmir: IGP Orders Inquiry After Senior Doctor Says He Was Beaten, Detained Illegally by Police

In the petition, the family says that Irfan’s death took place in highly “suspicious circumstances” and “he bore visible torture marks all over his body including head, chest and limbs. There were visible and apparent burn injuries over the body of the deceased.”

“All this strengthens the belief of the (petitioners) in the fact that the deceased was tortured to death in police custody and then a story was cooked up with regard to alleged recoveries and alleged efforts of the deceased to run away from custody,” the petition states.

The family has also claimed, in the petition, that the inquiry officer has indicted the police personnel responsible for killing Irfan. “The petitioners are of reasonable belief, given the statements of witnesses before the inquiry officer, that the inquiry report has indicted the police personnel for killing in custody and has ruled out the theory of the police that the deceased while fleeing from custody fell into a stone quarry resulting in his death,” the petition states.

Family Accuse J&K Police of Killing Sopore Man in Custody, Question ‘Escape’ Story

Irfan Ahmad Dar was arrested for allegedly sheltering militants but then somehow escaped from custody only to be found dead a few hours later, the police say. The cause of death has not been disclosed but locals allege torture.

Sopore: At around 12 pm, on Tuesday, members of the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Special Operation Group (SOG) raided the house of Irfan Ahmad Dar, a 23-year-old shopkeeper, at Sidiq Colony in the Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

Irfan was arrested from the shop he owned, adjacent to his house. At around 3:30 pm, the SOG raided his house. This search operation lasted for 20 minutes.

This time, the police detained his 30-year-old brother, Javid, and took him to the SOG camp, located at Townhall in Sopore.

Javid was released later that night but on Wednesday morning – September 16 – the news broke that Irfan had died.

Irfan’s death comes a little more than a year after the March 19, 2019 incident in which school principal Rizwan Asad Pandit, from south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, died after having been detained by the Jammu and Kashmir police for questioning in a “militancy related case”. 

As news of Irfan Ahmed Dar’s death spread through the area, local residents took to the streets to protest what they said was a custodial killing. Irfan’s family members demanded punishment for the “killers” and asked that his body be handed over to them.

Irfan Ahmad Dar’s mother demands his body in Sopore. Photo: Peerzad Waseem

While the authorities snapped internet services and blocked entry into the neighbourhood, the police in Sopore came out with a statement claiming that the dead man was an over-ground worker (OGW) for militants and had “escaped taking advantage of darkness and terrain” when the police had taken him to a site for “some more recovery.”

According to the police statement, Irfan “was apprehended and two Chinese Hand Grenades were recovered from his possession”.  An FIR (257/2020) was registered at the Sopore Police Station under Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the police said, and an investigation launched.

“During the course of investigation, a police team visited Chairdaji area of Tujjar-Sharief along with OGW for affecting some more recovery on the disclosure of the OGW,” the police statement reads.

“In the meanwhile, the OGW while taking advantage of darkness and terrain managed to escape regarding which a separate Case FIR No. 71/2020 U/S 224 IPC was registered in Police Station Bomai and during search the body of OGW was found near [the] Stone Quarry of Tujjar-Sharief.”

The body, according to the police, was then taken to the nearby Primary Health Centre (PHC), from where it was shifted to the Police Control Room (PCR) for fulfilling medical and other legal formalities. 

The police statement makes no mention of the cause of death or of any injuries on the 23-year-old man’s body. Though a postmortem examination of the body was conducted at the PCR, the family has not been provided any details.

Under the National Human Rights Commission’s guidelines for deaths in custody, not only is a post-mortem mandatory but the process has to be video-recorded. There have been instances where the NHRC has used the injuries recorded in a post-mortem report to refute police accounts of prisoners dying while trying to escape

With the Sopore police providing no information to Irfan’s family about the cause of death and then refusing to hand over his body, the family is convinced he was killed in police custody and later branded an over-ground worker of militants.

“No one in the family has a single FIR in their name in any police station in Kashmir. Nor were we involved in any militancy. My brother was murdered in custody and then dubbed a militant,” said Javid.

Security forces in Sopore. Photo: Peerzad Waseem

Javid told The Wire that the police detained him at the SOG camp at Sopore, and claimed that Irfan had been detained at Sopore police station.

“The police told me that some militants were in our house 10 days ago. They asked me about the militants. I told them, ‘You can check the CCTV footage, if you find any one entering our home on that day, you can do whatever you want’,” Javid said.

But this did not satisfy the police and they kept asking him about “the militants and their locations.”

At around 11 pm on September 15, Javid said he was not feeling well and was allowed to go home.

“I asked them about Irfan and they told me he will be released in the morning, so I went back home. We were shocked to know [the next morning] that he had been killed,” Javid said.

Rayees Ahmad, the Dars’ neighbour, told The Wire that the brothers were always busy with their work. “They usually did not get time to even eat their meals at the proper time. They never had time to working for militants or do stone pelting, as far I know,” he said.

Family members waiting outside the police control room at Srinagar to see Javid’s remains told The Wire that police were refusing to even show his body to them.

“We want to see his body, we are sure that he was tortured to death in custody but the police is not allowing us in,” Noor Mohammad, Irfan’s maternal uncle told The Wire on Wednesday afternoon. When he finally saw Irfan’s face during the last rites that the police conducted in Sonmarg, he noticed his nephew’s front teeth were broken and that his head appeared as if it had been hit by some object.

Members of Irfan’s family come out in protest in Sopore. Photo: Peerzad Waseem

Another of Irfan’s brothers, Waheed, is studying for an engineering degree outside J&K. He told The Wire that the police had zeroed in on them because the family has two houses in their compound. They use the new one as their residence and the old one primarily as a store house. 

“Sometimes we slept in the old house when friends would visit us. So we used to keep bedding scattered,” he told The Wire.

Around 10 days ago, when police were carrying out a search operation in the area, they found the bedding and became suspicious

“They asked us, ‘Who is sleeping here?’,” Ahmad said, adding that his siblings were detained on this “doubt” alone.

He added that on Tuesday, when the SOG came and detained Irfan and Javid, “they took our mobile phones and our Alto car too.”

Also read: Custodial Deaths in India Are a Cold-Blooded Play of Power and Class

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the J&K authorities have quietly buried the bodies of those claimed to be militants killed in alleged encounters either at Sonmarg in Ganderbal district or at Gantamulla in Baramulla.

According to police, this is being done to prevent large funerals for slain militants. Though his family insists Irfan was not a militant or an OGW, the police buried him in Sonmarg, 100 kilometres away.

Also read: Three ‘Militants’ Killed in Shopian ‘Encounter’ Were Ordinary Labourers, Families Allege

Police stick to claims

Speaking to The Wire, senior superintendent of police, Sopore Javid Iqbal said the authorities have recommended a magisterial probe into Irfan’s death. However, he held fast to the claim that the young man was an OGW and had sheltered militants.

“The family can say anything as they are in an emotional state but the truth is that he gave shelter to militants. We have recommended a probe, everything will be clear after that,” Iqbal said.

When asked how Irfan had escaped and how he had died and why police were not checking CCTV footage near Irfan’s home, as his family has asked, Iqbal said, “We will prove that Irfan gave shelter to militants and was seriously involved in militancy. We have issued a statement already regarding how he escaped.” 

A relative of Irfan Ahmad Dar protests in Sopore. Photo: Peerzad Waseem

Political parties react

As news of Ifran Dar’s death came, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah took to Twitter to express his scepticism at the official account:

Iltija Mufti, who operates former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti’s Twitter account while she is incarcerated, called Irfan’s death a ‘cold blooded murder’: 

People’s Conference supremo Sajad Lone also mocked the police account:

Auqib Javeed is a Srinagar-based journalist and tweets @AuqibJaveed