Srinagar: The Leh Apex Body (LAB) said on Thursday (October 9) that an associate of the incarcerated climate activist Sonam Wangchuk was allegedly tortured in custody by the Ladakh police after he refused to make a false confession.The issue was raised by the apex body on Thursday in its first meeting with the Ladakh administration after the September 24 protests during which four civilians including a Kargil War veteran were killed in firing by security forces.The LAB also demanded a judicial probe led by a retired Supreme Court judge into the killings as a precondition for resuming talks with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that have been stalled after the protests turned violent in Ladakh’s capital city.LAB co-chairman Chering Dorjay Lakrook alleged that Stanzin Yulo, a resident of the Thiksey locality on the outskirts of Leh who was reportedly working as a contractor with Wangchuk’s Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh (HIAL), was “forced into making a false confession which he refused due to which he was tortured by police”.The HIAL is being probed by Union investigative agencies for alleged financial irregularities, which have been denied by its co-founder and Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo.“He has been beaten up very badly. He was asked to make some confession and false accusations, to which he didn’t agree. He has torture marks all over his body and is presently undergoing treatment at the Sonam Narboo Memorial Hospital in Leh,” Lakrook told The Wire.Angmo could not be reached for comment.Ladakh director general of police (DGP) S.D. Jamwal sought to deny the allegation, while refusing to disclose the nature of the alleged injuries suffered by the victim in police custody.“We have verified something and he is in police custody, but right now he is in the hospital. There is no point of any torture or anything”, he said.Asked what was the need for hospitalising the suspect who was in police custody, Jamwal tried to prevaricate: “I don’t know. Ask the doctors. He was with us but then doctors recommended that he should be in the hospital.”When The Wire pressed the Ladakh DGP about the allegations of the LAB co-chairman, he said: “I don’t know. You can verify from the hospital.”It was not immediately known when Yulo was arrested by the Ladakh police and the charges brought against him. Medical superintendent of the Sonam Narboo Memorial Hospital Dr Rinchen Chosdol could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.Meanwhile, the apex body urged the Ladakh administration to announce confidence-building measures to restore the public’s faith in the rule of law during the critical meeting on Thursday, which was chaired by Ladakh’s chief secretary Pawan Kotwal and lasted for around 90 minutes at the conference hall in the Ladakh deputy commissioner’s office.Jamwal, Leh deputy commissioner Romil Singh Donk, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (Leh) (LAHDC) chairman and BJP leader Tashi Gyalson, local leaders of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, two head lamas, the Gompa association president, the heads of religious organisations, senior police officers and others participated in the meeting.A one-minute silence was observed at the beginning of the meeting in honour of the four civilians who were killed in the September 24 violence.The LAB co-chairman said that they demanded a judicial probe by a retired Supreme Court judge and urged the administration to stop the ‘harassment’ of their activists and leaders.“Those [protesters] in police remand must be released on bail while innocents picked up by the police after the protests should not be unfairly booked in false cases,” he said.Lakrook, who is also president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association, said that the officials of Ladakh administration gave a “patient hearing” to their demands.“If the government fulfils our demands, we are ready for talks [with the MHA]. Some of our demands are beyond their [the Ladakh administration’s] mandate, like the judicial inquiry. This is our main demand and the government should come out with an order. We are ready for talks if the judicial probe is announced,” he said.The LAB along with the Kargil Democratic Alliance pulled out of the informal talks with the MHA’s high-powered committee on Ladakh headed by junior home minister Nityanand Rai after the September 24 violence.During the meeting on Thursday, the BJP also supported the demand for a judicial probe into the violence, said LAHDC chairman Gyalson.“The meeting was very meaningful and we are hopeful that normalcy and peace will be restored in Ladakh soon. Mobile internet is likely to be restored by tonight,” he said.Lakrook said that several village headmen or numberdars were being allegedly summoned to police stations, where they were being accused of taking money from China and Pakistan for fanning the unrest in Leh.“We raised this issue with the administration also and urged them to put an end to this cycle of intimidation and harassment,” he said.Earlier, DGP Jamwal said that 44 protesters were arrested by the Ladakh police for their alleged involvement in the violent protests on September 24.According to Leh Bar Association president Mohammad Shafi Lassu, some 40 people who were picked up by the police have been released on bail by courts.“The bail applications of others are scheduled to come up for hearing in the coming days,” he said.The LAB has demanded Rs 1 crore in compensation for the next of kin of the four civilians who were killed in firing by security forces, a demand reiterated by the Leh bar.At least 90 civilians, mostly minors, were injured when the Ladakh police and the Central Reserve Police Force fired bullets, pellets and tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters in the capital city.