A school teacher, who was arrested by National Investigation Agency in connection with a militancy case, has died in police custody on Monday night. The police itself has now requested a magisterial inquiry into the death.
Rizwan, 28, of South Kashmir town of Awantipora was a teacher at a private school. He was picked up by the NIA three days ago.
Now the police department has requested a magisterial inquiry under Section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to ascertain the cause and circumstances leading to Rizwan’s death.
“In pursuance of a militancy case investigation, one suspect Rizwan of Awantipore was in police custody. The said person died in police custody. In this matter while following the procedure laid down in section 176 of crpc a magisterial enquiry is underway,” a police statement said.
“Separately police investigation has also been initiated in the jurisdictional area of incident”.
The custodial death has generated anger in Kashmir. Former Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah have condemned the killing.
“Innocent men hauled up from their homes for interrogation return home only in coffins now. GoI’s repressive approach leaves young educated men vulnerable who are forced to take up arms. Stop using Kashmir to exhibit your sick chauvinistic nationalism. We have suffered enough,” Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah demanded exemplary punishment to those involved in the custodial death of the teacher.
“I had hoped custodial deaths were a thing of our dark past. This is an unacceptable development & must be investigated in a transparent, time bound manner. Exemplary punishment must be handed out to the killers of this young man,” Omar said on Twitter.
Similarly, Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that the custodial killing has once again exposed the “helplessness” of the people of Kashmir.
