J&K: Protests in Kashmir over alleged custodial death

Anantnag: Protests broke out in Anantnag in Kashmir on Tuesday after a man was found dead under mysterious circumstances. The youth's family has alleged that he died in police custody and the victim had torture marks on his body.

The police, however, claim that they had not arrested the youth. Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demanded a transparent probe into the death of the youth.

"Government will have to come out with facts about the mysterious death of a youth in Anantnag district if it does not want to add to the crisis of trust it faces especially in view of unfulfilled promises of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah," PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said in a statement. The youth was found dead near a railway track in the town, triggering protests by local residents who alleged that he was picked up by police and later killed in custody.

Expressing shock at the death in mysterious circumstances, she said the state, especially Kashmir Valley is every day pushed deeper into chaos, insecurity and mourning. "Expecting fair probe into this latest tragedy from a government that has apparently developed a vested interest in destabilised conditions is useless," Mehbooba said.

She said the government, headed by a chief minister who displays his "rhetorical skills and breast beating" on every tragedy, sees such events as only as an occasion to show case his "bleeding heart". "If the Chief minister had instead been keen to govern the state, ensure safety of its citizens, provide justice and good governance, the state would not have faced this unprecedented crisis where every body especially the youth have again become vulnerable to either state repression or the unknown killers," the PDP president said.

Mehbooba said the entire Valley has been a witness to deaths that were never investigated and the feeling among the people of foul play in the youth's death is understandable. She said the government is facing the crisis of trust especially in view of unfulfilled promises of Chief Minister like the one he made in 2010 about the three youth having been killed in cold blood in Anantnag. The Chief Minister had promised to solve the case and punish the killers in 24 hours, she recalled.

(With Additional Inputs From PTI)