JAMMU (Kashmir English): A person was paraded with a garland of shoes on the streets and made to sit on the bonnet of a moving police vehicle in Jammu district of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, this is the second such incident in Jammu this year in which police have faced accusations of misconduct and it bears resemblance to the 2017 incident involving an Indian army major in which a Kashmiri man was tied to an army vehicle and paraded in Budgam district.
In the latest incident, a video which was shared multiple times on social media showed two uniformed policemen pulling out the man, whose hands are tied behind his back, from the rear side of a police vehicle in the presence of the station house officer (SHO) of Bakshi Nagar police station.
As the two policemen are seen dragging the victim and hauling him on the bonnet of the car, some reporters at the spot thrust their mics at the visibly distraught man, who is heard identifying himself as a resident of Srinagar.
The video shows SHO poking the face of the suspect with his wooden staff and pushing him with a degree of violence to make him sit straight on the bonnet and reveal his face.
A public address system mounted on the police vehicle announces that the man was a “professional thief”.
However, as reported by The Wire, the SHO didn’t clarify the grounds on which he was making the allegation.
Disgraceful conduct of police personnel
The incident has triggered outrage across occupied Jammu and Kashmir with the Awami Ittehad Party legislator Sheikh Khursheed and others demanding strict action against the “disgraceful conduct” of the police personnel.
“Law enforcement must never become a tool for spectacle or humiliation. No matter the crime, justice system is governed by the rule of law, not mob mentality or public shaming.
Such actions reflect poorly on the very institutions meant to uphold justice and protect individual rights,” he said.
“Under which law was he paraded naked and made to wear shoes around his neck? The police have no authority to decide whether someone is a criminal or not that is the job of the courts. This is sheer hooliganism,” Mansha Altaf, a Kashmiri posted on X.
This was the second incident when any person faced such a situation in Jammu city, this month.
Earlier on June 11, three persons involved in a shooting incident in Gangyal chowk on the outskirts of Jammu were beaten up in full public view after they were caught and taken to the police station.
