Srinagar: As the coronavirus outbreak spreads across the country, a National Conference leader and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter have sought the release of Jammu and Kashmir residents who have been under detention since August last year.
On Monday, NC leader and Anantnag MP Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi wrote a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah seeking the release of Kashmiri detainees currently lodged in various prisons across north India, including in Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkarnagar and Agra, and Tihar jail in Delhi.
Mufti’s daughter Iltija wrote to J&K Lieutenant Governor G.C. Murmu, asking for the release of Kashmiris detained since Article 370 was scrapped in the erstwhile state.
While Iltija sent an email to the L-G, according to sources in the Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party, Masoodi’s letter to Shah was shared by his party on Twitter.
Party MP Justice (Retd.) @masoodi_hasnain writes to HM Mr. @AmitShah seeking release of detainees lodged in jails here and outside J&K.
Full letter here: pic.twitter.com/hfeAGJg9Xi
— JKNC (@JKNC_) March 23, 2020
In their respective communications, the two reiterated that the persons in custody have been detained without a trial, on “mere suspicions” and “trumped up charges”.
Both of them also found support on social media as the hashtag ‘Release Kashmiri Prisoners’ trended on Twitter.
The detainees whose release was sought included separatist leaders Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi, Nahida Nasreen, and chairman of Kashmir’s High Court Bar Association Mian Abdul Qayoom.
Earlier this month, Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy informed the Rajya Sabha that authorities had detained 7,357 individuals from J&K since 5 August, of which 451 remain in detention. Of these, 396 — including politicians, separatists, alleged overground militant workers, stone-pelters, lawyers and activists — have been booked under the Public Safety Act while 55 have been arrested under the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The demands have come amid a deepening public health crisis in the country as the coronavirus cases jump to over 400. Nearly 20 states and union territories are currently under complete lockdown to halt the spread of the virus.
Also read: Doctors in Kashmir seek accommodation as they ‘don’t want to carry coronavirus back home’
‘Extraordinary medical situation’
In her email to the L-G, Iltija Mufti wrote, “At a time when jails even in USA are releasing inmates, one fails to understand reluctance of GOI in freeing detainees jailed for the past 8 months on trumped up charges.” ThePrint has seen the email.
She added, “We are in the midst of an extraordinary medical situation & healthcare systems all over the world are collapsing. I urge you to consider my request. I’m sure you will agree the collective health & well being of each of these detainees overrides every other consideration/rationale for their detention.”
Iltija’s mother Mehbooba Mufti has remained under detention since August. Her rival and NC leader Omar Abdullah also been in detention since. His father and the party chief, Farooq Abdullah, was released recently.
“Since no known medication/vaccination for COVID exists as yet, self isolation has emerged as the safest bet to fight the outbreak. Overcrowded jails & lack of healthcare therefore makes these detainees highly vulnerable to the deadly contagion.
“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that prisons all over India might become the new epicentre of this epidemic,” read her email.
“There are hundreds of senior citizens from the Valley battling multiple ailments across jails in the country. Some of these detainees come from humble families where the members haven’t been able to afford a single trip to visit their sons & brothers lodged in jails outside Kashmir. You can well imagine their anxiety & concern in the wake of COVID pandemic.
“Keeping in mind the aforementioned circumstances, I’d like to request you to release all detainees immediately & allow them to return home,” she added.
Also read: What Farooq Abdullah’s release means for mainstream politics in Kashmir
‘Detainees need to be released’
In his letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, Anantnag MP Hasnain Masoodi wrote that there are numerous “judicial pronouncements commanding the government to lodge the detenue in a jail nearest to home so that the relatives and friends visit him”.
“The detainees it needs to be realised, are detained without charge and trial on a mere suspicion, later found to be misplaced,” the MP wrote.
“The lockdown and restrictions imposed on travel and traffic, to combat the Covid-19 crises, would make it impossible for the relatives to visit the detenue lodged a few hundred miles from his home. Resultantly the detenue would be exposed to immense psychological distress and his valuable constitutional right be defeated,” said Masoodi.
He further requested the minister to direct revocation of detention orders against all the detainees lodged within and outside of Jammu and Kashmir.
Also read: 10 steps Modi govt should take to manage economic fall-out of coronavirus: SC Garg