Day: January 24, 2022

Lakhimpur, January 24, 2022 (PPI-OT): A 17-year-old boy died after mercilessly tortured by the Indian cops inside a police outpost in Hindutva RSS-BJP ruled Indian state, Uttar Pradesh. The boy’s family said that cops were directly involved in the assault and killing of the boy in a police outpost on suspicion of mobile theft. A video, now viral on social media, has the boy’s family showing external injuries on his body to a senior policeman.

“The boy’s family has filed two complaints and registered an FIR under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC against his uncle Ram Bahadur and neighbour Rajveer Singh. The second complaint is against a sub-inspector and two constables. We are probing the case in detail and will take action against the cops in question, accordingly,” claimed Palia Circle Officer (CO), Sanjay Nath Tiwari.

The boy’s elder sister said that her brother, a day before his death, told her that he was thrashed by cops for a “confession”. Narrating the sequence of events, she said: “The cops came to our house for my brother. My mother accompanied him to a nearby police outpost and she was sent back home. After a few hours, we received a call to take my brother. But when my parents reached there, they found him badly beaten and crying in pain. He said that he was beaten mercilessly by cops and my uncle. They brought him home and when his condition deteriorated, he was admitted to a hospital in Palia town where he succumbed during treatment.”

The boy was the only son of farmer Laxmi Ram and youngest amongst four siblings. The incident comes three months after another custodial death in Kasganj where Mohammad Altaf, 22, who was allegedly held by police for fake case of “kidnapping” a minor Hindu girl, was later found “hanging” from a tap inside a washroom in the police lockup.

The missing girl turned out to be an adult and later told police that she was never kidnapped. In another such incident, a sanitation worker, Arun Valmiki, who was held by police for allegedly stealing Rs 25 lakh from the strong room of Jagdishpura police station, had died in police custody in the state. His family had said that he died in police custody due to “torture”.

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New Delhi, January 24, 2022 (PPI-OT): Amid calls from the various international human rights organization seeking an immediate release of prominent Kashmiri human rights defender, Khurram Parvez, a court in New Delhi has extended his judicial custody till 19 February 2022.

Khurram Parvez was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on November 22, 2021, following a raid by the sleuths of India’s infamous National Investigation Agency (NIA) at his residence and office in Srinagar.

Parvez’s wife Sameena Mir in a media interview said that the family was planning to visit him [Parvez], but the jail authorities have stopped the visitation following the rise in Covid-19 cases. “As of now no visitor is allowed to visit jail. So, there was no point traveling to New Delhi,” she said.

Sameena Mir said that the family would continue to press for her husband’s unconditional release. “We will continue to pursue the case in the court,” she added. Meanwhile, national and international rights bodies, activists and politicians have demanded the immediate release of Khurram Parvez.

In December last year, more than 28 British Parliamentarians wrote a joint letter to the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK) expressing their concerns over Parvez’s detention and sought an explanation for his detention. Earlier, the United Nations also expressed concern over the arrest of Parvez and called for his release.

“We are deeply concerned at the arrest of Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez under Indian counter-terrorism legislation, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA),” the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a statement.

In 2016, Parvez was slapped with draconian Public Safety Act (PSA). His arrest had come a day after he was barred from traveling to Switzerland to participate in a session of the UN Human Rights Council. He was released after 76 days of prison.

Khurram Parvez is the Chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and the Programme Coordinator of Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). He had lost his leg in a landmine while monitoring the 2004 parliamentary elections.

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Islamabad, January 24, 2022 (PPI-OT): The All Parties Hurriyet Conference Azad Jammu and Kashmir (APHC-AJK) chapter held a condolence meeting in Islamabad, today, to condole the death of the wife of senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ghulam Nabi Nowsheri in Islamabad.

The APHC members, staff and office bearers expressed their profound grief and sorrow over the sad demise of the wife of Ghulam Nabi Nowsheri and prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and give courage to the bereaved family to bear the irreparable loss. Meanwhile, APHC leader Hakeem Abdul Rasheed in a statement in Srinagar expressed deep sorrow over the death of the wife of Ghulam Nabi Nowsheri and expressed solidarity with the aggrieved family.

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Kashmir Media Service
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