Indian troops arrest six more youths in Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: Indian occupation forces arrested half a dozen youths from occupied Kashmir’s Badgam and Baramulla districts on Wednesday.

According to the Kashmir Media Service, the youths were rounded up during cordon and search operations. Four youths were arrested from the Beerwah area of Badgam district while two others from Baramulla town.

The troops continued their operations in Srinagar, Badgam, Baramulla, Sopore, Kupwara, Handwara, Hajin, Shopian, Islamabad, Pulwama, Pampore, Tral, Kulgam, Kishtwar, Rajouri, Pooch and other areas of the occupied territory.

Meanwhile, an official report released by the Indian government has revealed over 8,600 people were lodged in jails of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) during 2019.

The report, Prison Statistics of India, 2019 — released by the Indian National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) said as of December 31, 2019, 3,689 inmates were in held Jammu and Kashmir’s jails against an overall capacity of 2,910. This means the overall occupancy rate in jails of the disputed territory was 126.8 per cent, which was evidence of overcrowding in the prisons.

As per the report, 12.5 per cent of inmates in IOJK’s jails were detained at the end of 2019. In India, Tamil Nadu had 38.5 per cent and Gujarat 12.5 per cent detainees. The NCRB comes under administrative control of the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs.

Post-abrogation of Article 370, the BJP-led Modi government had detained thousands of Hurriyat, political, social and civil society members and youth under the draconian Public Safety Act, which allows detention for a up to two years without trial. Some were detained in various jails of IOJK while thousands others were lodged in the prisons across India.