In the aftermath of mass protests following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani, police have detained a minor from Danderkhah area of Batamaloo and kept him in illegal custody since July 9.
The family of the 9-year-old Danish Yousuf said that they were distraught when he did not return home after playing.
They accused the police of illegally detaining their ward and harassing the parents at Police Station, Batamaloo.
“My son is innocent. Police have caught him when he was playing outside the home. They were chasing some protestors in the area. They detained Danish without any evidence and keeping him in illegal custody even after ten days have passed,” said Muhammad Yousuf, Danish’s father.
“On July 9, a large contingent of police and CRPF entered our Mohallah. They were chasing the youth and beating civilians. Some of them barged into houses and ransacked the belongings. They also humiliated and harassed many people,” said Ghulam Nabi Mir, uncle of the minor.
He said the police didn’t inform the family about his whereabouts cops.
“When Danish didn’t return home till evening, we started looking for him in the neighborhood and nearby hospitals. On the next day, one of our relatives told us that Danish might be detained by police. We went to Batamaloo Police Station and found him in the lockup with few men,” Mir said.
According to him the Date of Birth of Danish, a student of Mehboob Public School Danderkhah is 2007.
“He is less only 9-year-old. Though we had pleaded with the police officials about his innocence, but they did not listen and still kept him under detention,” his uncle said.
“He had gone to play with kids when a police party was chasing some youth in the area,” Mir said.
“Though police are yet to book Danish but his continuous detention in police station might have a bad impact on his mind. He is suffering from mental disturbance and his detention might complicate his problem. My son cannot bear separation from the family,” said his sister Tansuba amid sobs.
Besides Danish, many minors are detained in Police Station Batamaloo. However, police refused to talk about the issue.
The media team called-up SSP Srinagar, Amit Kumar and DIG Central Kashmir, Ghulam Hassan for their comments over “illegal detention” of the minor. However, both of them dropped the call before their reply and didn’t respond to the repeated calls from this newspaper after that.
This reporter tried to reach the SHO Batamaloo Aftab Ahmad via his BSNL number. However, his number was continuously switched-off.
(RK)
