Hriday Nath Wanchoo was a Kashmiri communist trade-unionist, who is remembered for ensuring the socioeconomic upliftment of sanitation workers and documenting abuse of human rights by the state.[1][2] He was one of the two Hindu ministers in the "government in-absentia" run by Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, in early 1990s.
Career and politics
editWanchoo was employed as the Khilafarzi officer in Srinagar municipality.[2] In May 1992, he was inducted as a member of the Central Committee of the "Kashmir Liberation Council", established by Ghulam Qadir Wani and others for the cause of achieving Kashmiri Independence from India.[3]
Death
editWanchoo was assassinated by "unidentified gunmen" on 5 December 1992.[4] Local activists accused the government of having released two militants in exchange for an extra-judicial execution, one of whom would be killed in an "encounter"; Human Rights Watch noted Wanchoo's murder to fit into the state's brutal suppression of conversations on human rights.[4] Days before his death, Wanchoo had confessed in private, about threats to his life from local administration as well as the security apparatus.[5]
CBI Investigation
editWithin days, the state government roped in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the murder[6] who concluded a local militant group called "Jamait-ul-Mujahidin" — comprising twelve Kashmiri Muslims — to have planned the assassination.[7] However, by the time the investigation concluded, four of the accused had died and five had absconded, leaving only three — Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, a budding separatist; Mohammad Shafi Khan, a faculty member of the University of Kashmir specialising in Persian; Ghulam Qadir Bhat, a constable with the Jammu and Kashmir Police[8] — for trial under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act before a special court in Jammu.[9][7] Confessions were obtained from all of them.[7]
Judiciary
editIn July 2001, the TADA Court acquitted Faktoo and others in light of procedural deficiencies in obtaining confessional statements and the absence of any other corroborative evidence.[10][11] CBI appealed the judgement before the Supreme Court of India[a] and in January 2003, S. N. Variava disagreed with the court's characterization of the confession, sentencing all to life-imprisonment.[10][11] Faktoo and Khan filed a review petition but the Court rejected re-adjudication, in September of the same year, after a closed-court hearing.[12]
The judgement appears to be unconvincing among scholars; Seema Kaji and Sumantra Bose continue to suspect the Indian state to have had a role in the murder.[13][14]
Notes
edit- ^ The TADA act mandates the Supreme Court of India as the sole authority for appeal. In usual cases, the first venue for appeal would have been the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
References
edit- ^ "Opinion | In India, Misery and Corruption Fuel Violence; Kashmiri Activist Dead". The New York Times. 31 December 1992. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ^ a b WANCHOO, DR AMIT (23 May 2020). "Hridai: A heart that understood human suffering". Greater Kashmir. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ^ Prakash, Ved (2008). "Terrorist Outfits in Jammu and Kashmir". Terrorism in Northern India: Jammu and Kashmir and the Punjab. Vol. 1. Delhi: Kalpaz Publications. pp. 91–92. ISBN 9788178357348.
- ^ a b "Behind the Kashmir Conflict - Threats against Human Rights Defenders (Human Rights Watch Report, July 1999)". www.hrw.org. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ^ Varadarajan, Patanjali M. A Report on Torture, Extra-judicial Executions, Rape, Arbitrary Arrests, Disappearances and other Violations of Basic Human Rights by the Indian Security Forces in Indian-administered Kashmir. (Undertaken in co-operation with Federation Internationale des Droits de L'Homme)
- ^ 2003 (2) JKJ 774: Ashiq Hussain Faktoo vs Union Of India (Uoi) And Ors. Jammu & Kashmir High Court. 20 February 2001
- ^ a b c Central Bureau Of Investigation v. Ashiq Hussain Faktoo & Ors (Supreme Court of India 30 January 2003), Text.
- ^ "Arrested Valley hardliner hid at homes of Cong, PDP leaders". Indian Express. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
- ^ "3 JuM militants get lifer in Wanchoo case". The Times of India. 2 February 2003. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ a b "3 JuM militants get lifer in Wanchoo case". The Times of India. 2 February 2003. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ a b Central Bureau Of Investigation v. Ashiq Hussain Faktoo & Ors (Supreme Court of India 30 January 2003), Text.
- ^ Ashiq Hussain Faktoo vs Union Of India & Ors (Supreme Court of India 30 August 2016), Text.
- ^ Bose, Sumantra (1 July 2009). Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace. Harvard University Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-674-02855-5.
- ^ "Kashmir, Gender and Militarization in - Oxford Islamic Studies Online". www.oxfordislamicstudies.com. Retrieved 23 March 2022.[dead link]