Relatives of detained Mushtaq under PSA stage protest ,‘We have nobody to look after us’
Srinagar, Oct 12, 2013: Aged parents and seven sisters of a youth arrested under
black law Public Safety Act (PSA) Saturday staged protest demonstrations in Srinagar seeking release of their kin.
According to family members, Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh (18) a resident of Saidapora, Nowhatta in Srinagar who was booked for third time by the authorities under PSA and shifted to sub-jail in Kupwara district said ever since his release last time, Mushtaq would keep himself busy with his work. “He was picked up on mere apprehension which cannot be the ground to violate fundamental rights of citizens,” sister of detained youth said.
Mushtaq, a bus-conductor by profession, is the lone bread-winner of the family.
Holding banners and placards which read: “We want release of Mushtaq - sole bread-winner of family, brother of seven sisters, son of ailing mother and handicapped father, sister mentally retarded,” the family members, amidst rainy weather staged protest for almost half an hour, demanding release of Mushtaq.
Denying his involvement in stone-pelting - the charge under which Mushtaq has been detained – his sister said: “When police fail to handle the situation, they lay their hands on poor and innocent people.”
Mushtaq’s another sister said earlier when he was detained under PSA, the Amnesty International (AI) had intervened. “Earlier in 2008 he was detained under PSA in Kotbalwal Jail Jammu,” she said.
She said soon after his arrest last time on September 19, a local court granted him bail.
“But police arrested him outside the court again and he was taken to the office of SSP Srinagar. He was kept there for some time before being shifted to Kupwara jail,” she said.
She demanding release of their brother in view of Eid said “We don’t have anyone to look after us and our ailing parents,” she said.
“He has been booked under PSA on the charges of stone-throwing,” a police official claimed.
In November 2010, the Amnesty International (AI) castigated the Jammu and Kashmir regime led by Omar Abdullah over the detention of Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh of Nowhatta. source news net work