Military administration and the unequal hand of law ensure that the lives of civilians in Kashmir sell cheaper than a secret under the Official Secrets Act.
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ON December 11, the Supreme Court upheld the Union government's exercise of de-operationalisation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The August 5, 2019 abrogation ended the special autonomy of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir. Still, it did not repeal the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 which gives extensive powers to the armed forces in "disturbed areas" to search, seize, and arrest.
The AFSPA grants impunity to armed personnel to kill anyone on suspicion of the person being a terrorist. The armed forces personnel cannot be prosecuted in regular courts unless a sanction of the Union government is sought.
Two recent incidents shed some light on some less highlighted areas of military administration and raise some uncomfortable questions.
On December 23, a video of Indian armed force personnel torturing Kashmiri civilians went viral. In the 29-second video, it could be seen that unidentified personnel stripped some men naked and sprinkled chilli powder on their bare buttocks.
Reportedly, the civilians were called by some personnel to the armed force camp in Topa Pir village for questioning in the aftermath of the Poonch militant attack in which four army personnel were killed.
After this incident, around eight men were detained, out of which the three who were killed have been identified as Safeer Ahmed, Mohammad Showkat and Shabir Ahmed. The other five suffered multiple injuries in the alleged torture.
Reportedly, the unidentified army personnel who tortured the civilians belong to 48 Rashtriya Rifles.
After the video was circulated on social media, the Indian Army on X (formerly Twitter) announced: "Terrorists initiated an incident at Bafliaz in the Poonch–Rajouri Sector (December 21 and 22, 2023). Search operations by the security forces are continuing in the area of operations after the incident of December 21, 2023.
"Reports have been received regarding three civilian deaths in the area. The matter is under investigation. Indian Army stands committed to extending full support and cooperation in the conduct of investigations."
Reportedly, the bodies of the three civilians were handed over to their families amid tight military presence and a blanket internet shutdown in the Poonch and Rajouri districts.
The Jammu and Kashmir government announced: "The death of three civilians was reported yesterday in Bafliaz of Poonch district. The medico-legal formalities were conducted and legal action in this matter has been initiated by the appropriate authority.
The government has announced compensation for each of the deceased. Further, the government has also announced compassionate appointments of the next of kin of each deceased."
Since J&K was retrograded from a state to a Union territory on August 6, 2019, its law and order comes under the Union government.
The J&K police have registered a first information report at the Surankote police station in Poonch against "unknown persons" under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
According to the Indian Express, an internal probe by the army will be conducted by a separate formation based in Akhnoor, which is also a part of the Nagrota-based XVI Corps responsible for areas south of the Pir Panjal range. The probe will include the J&K to ensure impartiality.
Pending an inquiry, three senior army personnel stationed in Rajouri have been shifted.
This incident brought back memories of the Shopian killings. In late July 2020, it was widely reported by Indian news media that three militants had been killed in an encounter in Amshipora, Shopian on the intervening night of July 18 and 19.
In the beginning, when the families of the three persons did not hear from them, they thought they might have been detained under Covid-induced lockdown, but when they were unable to reach them for three weeks, they filed a missing person report.
As the photos of the three alleged "hard-core terrorists" went viral on the internet, their families came to know about the Shopian encounter and claimed that the three persons who had been killed, among whom was a minor, were in fact their family members.
The J&K police instituted a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the matter. The army also constituted a court of inquiry in this regard. The police investigation revealed that the three were seasonal labourers. They had travelled from the Rajouri district to work in apple and walnut orchards in Shopian.
On September 25, 2020, the SIT identified the three as Abrar Ahmed (25), Imtiyaz Ahmed (20) and Mohammed Ibrar (16).
The army also concluded their internal inquiry which suggested that Captain Bhoopendra Singh of the Rashtriya Rifles had exceeded the powers vested in him under the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 (AFSPA).
In December 2020, the Indian army announced that they would conduct a court-martial against Singh. This prevented Singh from being tried by regular courts.
Captain Singh was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by an army's summary general court-martial last year. However, on November 9, 2023, a two-member tribunal headed by Justice Rajendra Menon suspended the life sentence of Captain Singh.
It came as no surprise.
As per the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, one of the only functional organisations documenting human rights abuses in the valley, in the last 22 years no sanction by the Union government to prosecute armed forces personnel under AFSPA has been granted.
Compare the reaction of the military administration to the killing of civilians to cases of espionage.
A recent example might suffice. On December 23, an armed force personnel was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment and dismissed from service by a general court-martial in Delhi on charges of spying for Pakistani intelligence operatives under the Official Secrets Act, 1923. The personnel belonged to the Rajputana Rifles Regimental Centre.