Indian police arrest 3 youths in Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: Indian police have arrested three more youths in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Saturday.

The police, along with Indian troops and paramilitary personnel, arrested the youths in the Hajin area of the district and labelled them “over-ground workers” collaborating with Kashmiri fighters, the Kashmir Media Service reported.

The youths were identified as Bashir Ahmed Mir, Irfan Ahmed Butt and Hilal Ahmed Parray — all residents of Hajin.

Meanwhile, occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s High Court ordered the release of a Kashmiri youth lodged at the Agra Jail of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The court of Justice Rajesh Oswal issued this directive after annulling the detention of the Kashmiri youth, Nazir Ahmed Tantray, under draconian law, Public Safety Act. Advocate Bashir Ahmed Tak who represented the detained youth told media that Indian police had arrested Tantray, a fruit vendor by profession, on August 5, 2019, shortly after the abrogation of special status of IIOJK by the Narendra Modi-led government.

He said Tantray, a resident of Palhalan Pattan area of Baramulla district, was booked by the police and subsequently he was shifted to Agra Jail under the PSA. Tak contended that the detainee is illiterate and a vendor by profession who barely knows the ABCs of law.

He said the police did not give him grounds of detention except putting it on paper that he was a stone-pelter. He argued that the detainee has been booked in old cases on flimsy grounds.

The court after hearing the arguments quashed the detention of Tantray under the PSA and directed the authorities to ensure his release from Agra Jail.