Parents of a Class 2 student in south Kashmir are scared about the safety of their son after the police visited their home looking for the boy and continuously called the boy’s father to the police station.
The relatives of the boy alleged that the police have been visiting their home in Malangnag-Sherbagh area of Anantnag district since January 27, time and again, looking for the eight-year-old school student.“The police told the family that there was an instance of stone pelting on January 26 in Anantnag and the boy was also seen roaming around during the incident,” a relative of the boy’s parents said.
Death of a local militant in an encounter with security forces in the district on January 26 had triggered clashes between the youth and police. A shutdown was observed on January 27.
The relative, not wishing to be identified, said the boy was not at home at the time when police came and they asked his father, who is a clothes merchant, to come to the police station.
“Since then the boy’s father has been continuously asked to visit the police station. They allow him to return home in the evening only to be recalled in the morning,” he said.
The relative said despite assurances by the family, neighbours and the senior citizens of the area, the police are not ready to ‘leave the boy of the issue.’
“We told them that he is a small kid. He does not know right and wrong. They are not ready to listen. They are saying that ‘we want to counsel him,” the relative said.
He said due to the ‘police harassment’ the family has gone into ‘depression’. “The family is petrified. They are concerned about the well being of their son. The father of the boy is so traumatised that he is not talking to anyone now,” the concerned relative said.
Senior superintendent of police, Anantnag, Abdul Jabbar refused to comment. He said, “I don’t want to talk about the issue.”
Despite repeated attempts, Kashmir inspector general of police, Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gilani, did not receive calls from us.
