People in Indian-administered Kashmir have demonstrated to voice serious concerns and express their umbrage against the life sentences awarded to Kashmiri prisoners by Indian courts for killing officer of the Indian border security force.
Hundreds of people took to streets in Kashmir's summer capital after Friday prayers to protest life sentences awarded to the long detained political prisoners, calling it a travesty of justice and a desperate attempt to subvert the will of the people of Kashmir. Police used heavy tear gassing and cane charge to break up demonstrators who retaliated with stone pelting.
Police arrested dozens of protestors, including chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Mohammad Yasin Malik, during the demonstration.
According to reports, at least 20 Kashmiri youth facing sedition charges have been sentenced to life in the past 18 months alone.
Pro-independence groups claim that in some cases, sentences have been awarded to prisoners who have already spent more than a decade in prison.
An all-women pro-independence group also staged a protest demonstration to demand the release of Kashmiri detainees.
According to human rights observers, hundreds of Kashmiris are suffering in different jails across India.
Imroz says that detainees’ are harassed and maltreated by the jail authorities.
The long-standing debate over the fair trail of detainees and dispensation of justice in this Himalayan region has got a fresh impetus as more Kashmiri detainees lodged in various Indian jails get life terms. Ironically, some of them have already spent more than a decade behind bars.
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