STRUCTURES OF VIOLENCE

199 | Structures of Violence
and ndings of the Additional District and Sessions
Judge, Srinagar suggest that the family's version of
events is in fact accurate, and that the victim did not
escape and was disappeared in the custody of the
BSF:
- Witness Ghulam Qadir Bhat conrmed that
the victim was picked up on 9 July 1995
st
around 11:00 am by BSF personnel of the 41
Battalion and was taken rst to a bunker, and
then to Karan Nagar. The witness further
testied that people assembled at Karan
Nagar demanding that the victim be released.
The witness was not cross-examined.
- While being uncertain about the year when
the event took place, but suggesting that it
was two years prior to his testimony [although
it is unclear when the witness testied],
witness Ghulam Qadir Sheikh conrms the
version of events provided by Ghulam Qadir
Bhat, including the time of the arrest as being
around 11:00 am or 12 noon in the month of
July. The witness was not cross-examined.
- The father of the victim also testied to the
arrest of his son and him being taken to the
BSF Camp at Karan Nagar on 9 July 1995.
Crucially, he testies that “they” [it is unclear
who else the witness is referring to] met the
victim in September or October 1995 at the
BSF Camp at Karan Nagar and subsequently
met him on two more occasions in October
1995 at the Karan Nagar Camp. He testied
that he was accompanied by his wife: Noora [it
is unclear whether the witness suggests that
his wife accompanied him on all three
occasions]. Further, he stated that he ran a
shop at the Kani Mazar crossing and that
there was no ring in the area in 1995 or 1996,
and particularly between April and October
1995. The witness also testied that the
“Deputy Commissioner told him that he
should not pursue cases in Courts and if he
does so he will be paid Rs. 5,00,000 and will
be given a shop also”. The victim was crossexamined,
but from a summary provided in
the enquiry order, no damage appears to have
been done to his testimony.
- Witness Noora Sabi, mother of the victim,
stated that the victim was arrested two and a
half years prior to the date of her testimony [it
is unclear when the witness testied] and that
she met him in October 1995, along with her
husband, at the BSF Karan Nagar camp. She
also testied that she met her son on two
occasions at the Karan Nagar camp following
the supposed date of his escape, i.e. 15 July
1995. The witness's testimony, during the
examination in chief, on meeting her son,
matches the account of her husband in most
respects except that her husband is unclear
whether the rst meeting took place on
September or October 1995. But, on crossexamination,
she testied that “they” met the
victim “in the autumn of 95 at Karan Nagar on
two times”. Therefore, a minor discrepancy
exists following her cross-examination.
- Witness Assad Kalwal, a shop keeper at Kani
Mazar, stated that in “these three years there
was no ring in Kani Mazar either at the night
or during the day”. He also testied that the
victim was arrested by the BSF and stated that
“when they were going in the camp they were
asking them to come on a particular day, then
they won't allow them to meet him”. This
appears to be a reference to the family of the
victim attempting to meet with the victim, but
the witness does not provide specic details.
The witness also stated that the victim was
“never released nor brought to P/S [Police
Station]”. On cross-examination, the witness
stated that the victim was arrested at Ali
Kadal. He stated he saw him being arrested at
about 10/10:30 a.m., which closely matches
with the time of arrest as testied to by other
witnesses. But, the witness does not
remember the date of arrest. He also testied
that he does not know the battalion number of
the forces who executed the arrest and that “to
him BSF and Army means same thing”. But,
he also states that “the petitioner's son was
arrested by BSF. As they put up there they
know it was BSF who arrested him”.
Therefore, on cross-examination, while the
witness's evidence is not absolutely clear on
his ability to identify the forces who arrested
t h e v i c t i m , h i s e v i d e n c e c o u l d b e
corroborative of the fact that the victim was
arrested by the BSF.
- Witness Ali Mohammad Magloo, posted at the
Safa Kadal Police Station, testied that a FIR
[no. 92/1995] was led by the BSF
headquartered at Karan Nagar. The witness
testied that a report was also submitted by
the BSF on the incident which states that the
initial arrest of the victim was on 9 July 1995.
Crucially, on cross-examination, the witness
st
testied that the BSF personnel of the 41
Battalion did not produce the victim at the
Police Station anytime after his arrest.
- Witness A.S. Bali, Commandant of the 12
Battalion Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police,
posted from 1994 to 1995 as Additional SP,
CIK, stated that the victim was always in the
custody of the BSF. The witness also stated
that “under law the custody of a person after
arrest is given to the Police in which the case
is registered” but he did not follow this up with
the BSF as “his duty was of a supervisory
nature”.
- Witness Sardar Rai Singh, Second in
st
Command at the 41 Battalion BSF at Karan
Nagar, testied that the victim was arrested on
9 July 1995. On interrogation he informed the
BSF of the hideouts of certain militants at Kani
Mazar. The witness was ordered by the
Commandant Dinesh Kotwal to conduct a raid