Srinagar, February 08 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, at least 500 persons including children, arrested for participating in anti-India demonstrations have been kept in sub-human conditions in police stations across the Valley, without being brought before courts.

This was revealed by a report released by a local lawyers’ group ‘Initiative for Peace and Justice (IPJ)’. “We visited some eight police stations in Srinagar and found scores of civilians embedded in tight lockups. Same is the situation in other districts of Kashmir. We estimate some 500 people, including juveniles, are detained illegally without being brought before the courts for judicial remand or establishing charges,” a member of the IPJ, advocate Babar told media men.

The IPJ report pointed out that boys below the age of eighteen comprised fifty percent of the arrested, adding, “They have been huddled with habitual criminals. The detainees are cramped in small lockups without basic human facilities.” It maintained that in many cases, parents had been detained in exchange of their wards.

The IPJ report further said that it had accounts of many protestors being shifted from one district to another to charge them under false cases. The IPJ said that officials at many police stations did not allow the lawyers to meet the arrested protestors. "The Station House Officer at Saddar prevented us from meeting the arrested protestors. We wanted to seek their details but were intimidated and shown the exit door," Imran, a team member said.

Javed Riyaz Bedar, the City Police Chief admitted that up to 100 people had been detained over the past few days. "We won’t hesitate in booking them under the Public Safety Act," he added. However, Mudasir Yousuf, a lawyer at the High Court, said, "The Act is being used against civilians in Kashmir to jail them without trial for years." »