“Alas! Before he could do this was brutally crumbled by the forces of ‘so-called’ biggest democracy called India.”
Niyaz Elahi
SRINAGAR: Family of a teenage boy, who was allegedly killed in custody by the police three years ago, has said the police have still not filed a First Information Report in the case.
Omar Qayoom, a resident of Soura, died at the SKIMS hospital of torture wounds today in 2010. Aged 17, he was a student of class eleven.
According to his father, he was picked up by police on August 20 that year – during the summer uprising that killed 111 persons – along with two other youth.
“At the time of his arrest he was thrashed against an iron shutter of a shop and an electric pole,” Muhammad Qayoom, the youth’s father, told a local news agency, CNS. After bail by a local court, Omar was taken to the hospital where he succumbed.
Qayoom said the police have still not filed an FIR and instead have been forcing him not to pursue a case with the State Human Rights Commission.
“A top police official approached me several times asking me to take the case back in lieu of monetary benefits and job, but I bluntly refused,” he said, adding that he only wants the culprits punished.
“We want justice. We want the policemen who tortured him be bought to book,” he said. “We don’t want any other family to suffer like this.”
The police could not be reached for comment.
‘Police Forcing Us to Withdraw’
The SHRC is expected to pass a judgment in the case early next month. However, it is not binding on the government.
Meanwhile, senior separatist leader and chairman of the pro-Independence Jammu and kashmir Liberation Front, Mohammad Yasin Malik paid rich tributes to Omar on his third death anniversary.
“He belongs to a class of martyrs who by sacrificing their blood took the case and cause of freedom struggle of Kashmiris to the world.”
He said Omer was a young budding youth who, like a flower, was ready to decorate this nation. “Alas! Before he could do this was brutally crumbled by the forces of ‘so-called’ biggest democracy called India.”
