Jammu And Kashmir: Deceased Kathua Man's Family Demands Probe Into 'Custodial Torture By Police'

The deceased's father said he and his son were detained by police and subjected to custodial torture on allegedly false charges, reports Mohd Ashraf Ganie.

Jammu: The family of a man from Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, who died under mysterious circumstances after being labeled as an Overground Worker (OGW) for the militants earlier this month, has demanded investigation into alleged police torture of their deceased kin.

Makhan Din, 25, was found dead at his home at Billawar area of Kathua on 5 February. Din had recorded a video before his death alleging that police officers coerced him into confessing links with militants, despite being innocent.

While police accused Din of being an OGW and claimed that he ended his own life, his father, Mohammad Mureed, alleged that “brutal thrashing by police has forced my son to die”. Mureed said that Din had been detained by the Billawar SHO “on false charges of being an overground worker (OGW) along with me, and we were tortured by police in the Bilawar police station”.

“My son was subjected to brutal thrashing and torture and forced to die. Even after the death of my son, police sealed the area and suspended Internet services so that the voice could be suppressed”.

Mureed demanded that an FIR be registered against the police and a copy should be handed over to him “so that such brutality should not be done in the future with anyone”.

“We want justice, not financial assistance. We want the murderers of Makhan Din to be booked, said Lal Deen, elder brother of Makhan Din. Din's father Mureed said that there was an “ongoing crackdown, with more individuals being picked up by police”. Mureed praised the independent MLA from the Bani constituency, Dr. Rameshwar Singh, for highlighting the issue.

The death of Makhan Din, a resident of Billawar in Kathua and a member of the Gujjar community, has led both the police and the administration to order separate investigations into the incident after political parties demanded a probe into the matter.

Makhan Din is survived by his four months pregnant wife and two daughters.