By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
Doda: Over the past week, there has been an extensive coverage of the acquittal of two Kashmiris–Mohammed Hussain Fazili and Mohammed Rafiq Shah–over terror charges in the 2005 Delhi Blasts case. A number of people have spoken about how innocent Muslims in India, especially Kashmiris, continue to languish in Indian jails over false terror charges. But when it comes to being unfair to Kashmiri youth, the Jammu and Kashmir government leaves the Central government way behind. And the biggest weapon in the hands of the state is not the pellet gun: it is the PSA, a draconian law, which, along with AFSPA, all but ensures that Kashmiris rarely end on the right side of justice. And Rehmatullah Padder, a 19-year old, is one of the many victims of this law.
After the Kashmir division of J&K saw massive protests and scores of deaths during the aftermath of the death of militant commander Burhan Wani in July 2016.
A month after the eruption of unrest, the state government went hard after the people whom it call “trouble makers” and booked hundreds of people, particularly youths under draconian Public Safety Act.
The PSA was promulgated by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1978 against timber smugglers. However, it was later used against political opponents and finally against people taking part in pro-freedom activities in J&K. The law allows arresting and jailing a person without trial.
Teenager arrested for speaking against deaths
About 260 kms from Srinagar in the Doda district of Chenab Valley, residents have always supported their Kashmiri brethren in protesting against the state oppression, and 2016 was no different. Hundreds in the district marched against the issue, including Rehmatuallah Padder, 19 a resident of village Dessa in Doda district, who was concerned about the fresh spate of killings of protesters becoming a norm in the valley.
An excellent orator, Rehmatullah used to make speeches to condemn the killings in Kashmir during the protest, but little did he knew that the ‘freedom of speech’ he studied in books would merely be words in this part of the country.
On Friday, August 12, 2016 as he, was coming out after performing Friday prayers in Jama Masjid Doda, when close to a dozen policemen pounced upon him and took and him away. This was just the start of the ordeal for Rehmatullah.
“I came to know about his arrest from the police. The same evening, I went to the police station with tea for my brother. I saw him shivering in pain. The policemen had beaten him badly, but my brother tried to put up a brave face,” said 33 year old, Faiz Ahmed, the elder brother of Rehmatullah.
The next morning, when Faiz went to meet his brother in the police station, to his utter surprise, he wasn’t there.
“There were two more boys who were arrested with my brother . They told me that Rehmatuallah was taken away by police somewhere yesterday night,” he said.
Scared that his brother might have been killed by police during interrogation, he was on verge of collapse.
As everyone in the family was waiting for their son’s news, Abdul Ghani, Rehmatullah’s father, a daily wager who earns by selling clothes on a cart, received a call from the police station on the same afternoon seeking his presence in the Police station to get his son released.
“Instead of handing over my son, they handed me the order copy of PSA imposed on him and told me that he had been shifted to Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu. I was shocked, scared and the thought of my young child in Jail left me in tears,” said Gani, who is yet to come up with the fact that his son has been jailed under PSA.
The whole family went into mourning after the news of PSA invoked on Rehmatullah speared like a fire in the town.
Dreams of becoming a doctor quashed
Rehmatullah is the youngest among seven siblings, and a bright student who scored 86% in 10th standard and more than 90% in 12thstandard from the prestigious Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Shopian district. The boy who dreamt of becoming a doctor however, ended up spending his next six months in jail for speaking against state injustices.
“He is the youngest among all the five siblings and an extremely intelligent boy. We were hoping that he becomes a doctor and puts an end to our financial sufferings, ” says Rehmatullah’s mother Muneera Begum.
“We even got call from his friends that he had qualified MBBS entrance, whose result was declared after he was jailed,” she added.
PSA after PSA
After going through the entire trauma; seeing their youngest kid behind the bars every time they used to visit him, the whole family was waiting for February 18, the day when he was completing his six month jail term and getting released. But a day before his release, the Home department of J&K government issued an order extending his detention period for another six months.
“A few of our relatives had gone to central jail Jammu to receive him, but the jail Superintendent told us that the home ministry has extended his term by another six month. We fail to understand how a 19 year boy could be such an enormous threat to the security of the state,” says Faiz, his voice quivering.
The PSA order no Home/PB-V/487/2017 claims that Rehmatullah is to be kept under detention for another six months so as to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the state.
The family has lost hopes of seeing their young son in the near future. They are afraid that he might be kept in Jail by the government for indefinite period by frequently renewing his detention period.
“They are killing a young dream of a boy who wanted to be a doctor. We fear that he won’t be the same person who he used to be,” adds his brother with a fear in his voice.