9-year-old out to buy bread beaten, locked up
A nine-year-old Srinagar boy was beaten till he bled and detained for two days in a police lock-up, the trauma turning him into a recluse, his grandparents said. The Class IV student, who lost his mother aged five months and was abandoned by his father, was the youngest of the at least 144 minors detained during the two-month-old clampdown, according to an official list.
The juvenile justice committee of Jammu and Kashmir High Court prepared the list and submitted it to the Supreme Court last week in response to a petition from child rights activists. In the report, the government claims that none of the minors was detained illegally and they were all lodged in observation homes.
According to the report, the nine-year-old was arrested on August 7, two days after the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and released the same day. But his family says he spent two days locked up at a police station. The boy told The Telegraph he was thrashed before being taken to the police station, apparently after a clash between protesters and the forces. “I started bleeding but they showed no mercy and took me to the police station,” he said.…
SEE ALSO:
- Fact Check: 4 Kashmiris Died After Security Forces Action, Yet Amit Shah Says ‘No Deaths’ (Oct 8, 2019, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/politics/jk-unionterritory-status-amit-shah - The Economist: ‘Disgrace’, Supreme Court not hearing Govt of India ‘abuses’ in Kashmir (Oct 7, 2019, Counterview)
https://www.counterview.net/2019/10/the-economist-disgrace-supreme-court.html - MHA confirms it has no papers to ‘shut down’ J&K: Kerala HC calls internet a fundamental right (Oct 7, 2019, Sabrang India)
https://www.sabrangindia.in/article/mha-confirms-it-has-no-papers-shut-down-jk-kerala-hc-calls-internet-fundamental-right - US Congress ups pressure to end blockage in Kashmir (Oct 9, 2019, Times of India)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/71496639.cms
