Jehangir Ali 
Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir high court has come down heavily on the Special Investigation Team that was constituted three years ago to probe the custodial killing of a Kashmiri civilian in 1996. The court has also ordered the J&K government to appoint a new officer for probing the case.
Rapping the police for “dragging its feet” in the case, a single bench of the HC observed that Jameela Begum, a resident of Srinagar and widow of Mohammad Ramzan Bhat, has been “running from pillar to post” for last three decades in the pursuit of justice for her husband without any success.
The bench upheld the remarks of a lower court that the “inefficient” and “incapable” Superintendent of Police (SP), Srinagar (North), who headed the SIT, had acted “callously” by resorting to “a mechanism of copy-paste” in the status reports filed in the court about the progress of investigation in the case.
A ‘militant’
A shopkeeper in Srinagar, the body of Bhat, which bore torture marks and had no firearm injuries, was found near a water stream in Srinagar on June 1, 1996. Police claimed that Bhat was a militant and that he was killed in an encounter.
Photographs showing the brutalised body of M Ramzan Bhat who was allegedly abducted from his Srinagar shop and later killed in custody. Photo: Ubaid Mukhtar.
An official probe later also ruled out the involvement of Bhat in militant activities, prompting the court to expedite the investigation.
“While law and order and other official duties may be important for…the investigating agency but that does not give any justification for the SIT to drag its feet in the matter,” the HC bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar ruled on September 26, while directing the Union territory government to replace the SP North with a new SP or higher-ranked officer.
“The officer … (will) complete the investigation and file the report before the learned Magistrate under Section 202 of the J&K Cr. P. C most expeditiously, preferably within a period of two months from the date of this order,” the court said. Sources said that a new officer has been appointed following the court’s direction.
The delay of more than 28 years in investigating the accusations of official abuse of power by security forces is a poignant reflection of the profound injustices faced by some Kashmiris in the aftermath of a violent insurgency that erupted in J&K in the early 1990s, advocate Tabassum Rasool, the victim’s lawyer, said.
She said that the Bhat family has endured an arduous battle for justice for decades, shouldering the heavy burden of loss and heartache, while waiting for answers from the officials that should have been forthcoming a long time ago.
Also read: J&K: Families Affected by ‘Fake Encounters’ View Poonch Civilian Deaths with Doubts and Despair
“This case underscores the urgent need for accountability in (cases of) custodial violence. The court’s affirmation directly addresses the manipulation of evidence that has caused immense suffering to the victim’s family. This judgment is a clarion call for expedited justice,” she said.
No firearm injury, only torture wounds: Post-mortem report
The incident dates back to the evening of May 31, 1996, when Bhat was picked from his shop by a police party and taken to Rainawari police station in Srinagar where he was allegedly tortured and later killed in custody, his wife Begum said in a court petition, adding that the police resorted to aerial firing when they went to the police station to seek Bhat’s whereabouts.
A family members showing the passport of M Ramzan Bhat who was killed in a fake encounter that blew up after it turned out that he had died due to torture. Photo: Ubaid Mukhtar.
Bhat’s tortured body was recovered the next day near a water stream with police dubbing him as a militant and the case was closed as “untraced”. The police also claimed to have recovered arms and ammunition from the alleged scene of shooting.
However, the investigation took a turn when an official post mortem report found that Bhat had not suffered any firearm injury and the cause of his death was injuries inflicted due to torture. A field report by J&K Police’s Criminal Investigation Department also ruled out Bhat’s involvement in militancy.
“The deceased sustained sharp penetrating injury to right paraspinal region leading to liver laceration, profuse haemorrhage shock, cardiorespiratory arrest and death,” the autopsy report of Bhat said.
Following this disclosure, J&K Police ordered a Special Investigation Team in 2006 to probe the allegations of custodial killing.
‘Rs 7,500’
Begum said that her husband had to pay the price for demanding Rs 7,500 from two security personnel who had taken some groceries from his shop on credit but failed to clear the dues.
The family later identified two “armed guard personnel”, Abdul Majeed and Azam Gujar, who were posted at Social Welfare Department in Srinagar’s Miskeen Bagh locality, and Mir Hussain, then station house officer of Rainawari police station, as the main suspects in the custodial killing.
The investigation in the case, however, dragged on for 15 years without any conclusion.
Photographs showing the brutalised body of M Ramzan Bhat who was allegedly abducted from his Srinagar shop and later killed in custody. Photo: Ubaid Mukhtar.
In 2021, a lower court in Srinagar ordered a SIT headed by a deputy superintendent of police or higher-ranked officer to probe the case. On the court’s directions, Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar, appointed the SP (North) to head the SIT.
Months into the probe, a lower court observed that “all the status reports” filed by the SIT were “vague, ambiguous, illogical and will lead to no conclusion as such defines the incompetence of the SP North being the head of the SIT”, while noting that “a mechanism of copy paste” was adopted and “similar report” were filed on all date of hearings.
“From the overall conduct of the SP North, it appears that he has very callously dealt a serious, fragile and sensitive matter. It is complete waste of time if this court allows this SP North to continue the investigation of this case in hand and same shall be fatal for the fate of the case. This court finds SP North completely inefficient and incapable to head/lead the SIT,” the court of 2nd additional munsiff, judicial magistrate, 1st class, Srinagar, observed on April 30, 2022.
‘Sat over the matter’
The state, however, challenged the judicial magistrate’s order in the high court which observed that the police “was under obligation” to register an FIR in the case on the basis of the version of events narrated by Bhat’s widow in her petition.
Also read: Army Trying to Cover Up ‘True Facts’ in Alleged Fake Encounter of Civilian: Kashmir Court
In an order on December 2, 2021, the lower court said that the SIT had not probed the role of then SHO Rainawari, constables Noorud Din and Ali Mohammad and then investigating officer Mohammad Sabir who investigated the case before 2006, and others.
“It appears that the investigation of the instant case has not been conducted properly from the very beginning. It also appears from the record that the Special Investigation Team constituted by SSP Srinagar has sat over the matter for almost three years and did nothing in the instant case despite several reminders and communications by the SSP Srinagar,” the lower court noted.
The high court said that the version of events narrated by Bhat’s widow “run contrary to the version given by the police”, “To this extent, the contention of learned Senior Counsel appearing for the protest petitioner appears to be well-founded,” the HC observed while sharing the “concern and anxiety” of the lower court on the poor manner in which the investigation has been conducted so far.