Srinagar: In the upper reaches of Doda, a rugged and mountainous district in Jammu’s Chenab Valley, Gujjar families live in small clusters, deriving their livelihood from cattle rearing. One such thinly populated locality is Gujjar Basti in Bharat village, around a 30-km climb from the main town.With the rise in cases of lynching in the name of cow protection across country, these pastoral nomadic groups in Bharat and adjoining areas and in nearby Kishtwar district often face harassment and arrest over “fabricated charges of cow smuggling”, said Syed Asim Hashmi, a lawyer at the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Kishtwar.He has been witness to a sudden rise in such cases of late. “Cattle rearing has been the bread and butter of Gujjars for ages. They take care of their cattle as they do their own children and even sleep alongside them. If taking cows and buffaloes to pastures for grazing is smuggling, then god save this country,” Hashmi said, referring to the harassment of Gujjars.On July 16, five people from Gujjar Basti were rounded up by police in Kishtwar’s Chatroo village on similar charges. This time, however, a neighbour – a shopkeeper from the locality, Javaid Iqbal – decided to stand up for them.Plea for bail and ‘custodial killing’ Javaid Iqbal, 40, from Bharat village was allegedly killed in police custody. Credit: Photo provided by Iqbal’s familyThree days after the arrests, 40-year old Iqbal left for Jammu to buy merchandise for his shop, carrying Rs 1.15 lakh along with him, according to his brother Nazir Ahmad. As he reached Doda town, Iqbal gave up his plan. He instead went to the Kishtwar court to apply for bail for his neighbours, and was joined by another local, Mohammad Yaqoob.Iqbal was asked to first get a report about the arrests from Chatroo police station. Without wasting time, Iqbal reached Chatroo in the late afternoon. Yaqoob accompanied him.Less than 24 hours later, Iqbal’s dead body, with “visible torture marks”, was handed over to his family members at home. An account of what followed between the late afternoon of July 19 and the next morning is provided in an application that was filed by the victim’s family in the Kishtwar court.“The in-charge station house officer Mohammad Bashir and Munshi Jaffar Hussain got annoyed (when Iqbal demanded a report from them on directions of the court). They took them (Iqbal and Yaqoob) into custody and demanded a bribe from them,” reads the petition that was filed by advocate Hashmi in the court, on basis of the account given by Yaqoob.‘Torture marks’ on the body of Javaid Iqbal. Credit: Photos provided by Iqbal’s familyWhen Iqbal refused to give a bribe, the police threatened Yaqoob with arrest if he didn’t leave, the petition reveals. Fearing for his life, Yaqoob followed their orders. “During the intervening night of July 19 and 20, Javed Iqbal was tortured to death and it was only the next morning that we learnt that he has been murdered,” the petition reads.“It is a custodial killing. There were visible torture marks all over his body,” said the lawyer. According to the him, the Rs 1.15 lakh which Iqbal was carrying was also missing when his body was handed over to his family.Abdullah Bhanday, a relative of the deceased, alleged that the police had demanded Rs 50,000 from Iqbal for letting the arrested persons walk free. “This had led to arguments between the two sides following which they (the police) killed Iqbal,” alleged Bhanday.With deformed feet, ‘Iqbal died after fleeing from custody’The police are claiming that Iqbal was “one of the smugglers and died when he fell into a nallah after fleeing from our custody”. “He fled after police had taken him to a local hospital for a medical checkup. The next morning his body was found in a nallah around four kilometres from hospital,” Jasvinder Kumar, who was last week posted as the new SHO at Chatroo, told The Wire over phone.But Iqbal, according to his relative Javaid Malik, had a deformity in both feet and couldn’t have fled. “The police is cooking up stories. The entire village knows about his disability. He would walk with difficulty,” said Malik.When asked, the SHO refused to talk about Iqbal’s disability. “I don’t know about this. I am new to this place,” the SHO said. Asked why Iqbal would have he visited police station to get the report of those arrested if he himself was a wanted man, the SHO said: “Everything will be investigated.”The police are also silent on why the previous SHO, Bashir – who was in charge when the incident happened – Munshi Hussain, and another policeman, Mohammad Amin, were suddenly removed from the police station. While the SHO has now been attached with district police line, Munshi and the policeman have been placed under suspension.“There are also no medical records in the hospital registry to prove that he (Iqbal) had been brought there for medical checkup,” said the lawyer.Case registered against deceasedDespite public outcry, the police hasn’t registered any case into the “killing”. Instead two separate cases have been filed against the deceased for the alleged smuggling of bovines, under section 188 of RPC (Ranbir Penal Code), and for fleeing from police custody, under section 124 of RPC.“It was the decision of the administration not to lodge any FIR into his [death]. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the case which will be conducted by additional deputy commissioner Kishtwar. We will wait for its outcome and act accordingly,” said SHO Kumar.Court orders inquiry by DIG, but questions remainResponding to the pleas by the victim’s family, the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Kishtwar, has directed the deputy inspector general of police, Doda/Ramban/Kishtwar range, to investigate the charge of custodial killing against the police and submit its report in six weeks.“The DIG is directed to conduct an inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining truth or falsehood of the complainant (the victim’s family),” reads the court order, accessed by The Wire.But advocate Hashmi argued that neither magisterial inquiry nor investigation by DIG would lead to any outcome till the accused policemen were arrested and a murder case registered into the incident. “These inquiries are just eyewash,” said Hashmi.Ahmad, brother of the deceased, said the police had assured them of registering an FIR when they had refused to bury the body. “They first killed my brother and are now protecting his killers,” he said.Dejected, the family is now contemplating knocking on the doors of the J&K high court to seek registration of a murder case and arrest of the accused policeman.“By letting them (the accused) walk free, the police has allowed ample time to them to destroy all evidence. Now, unless an FIR is registered, no justice can be expected,” said Ahmad.After a brief pause, he continued: “We are poor people with no political connections…I know it will be a long drawn battle but we are al ready to fight it for the sake of my brother. We will not give up so easily.”
