Days after a prisoner died after ‘falling down stairs at sub-jail building’ Kupwara, the bereaved family on Thursday alleged the jail authorities of putting forth a cooked-up story, saying given the nature of injuries it seems the inmate ‘never fell’ and instead been hit on the head by some sharp object.
Family of Mohammad Yousuf Bhat son of Abdul Aziz Bhat, a resident of Prangroo Mawer Handwara, said that if he fell, ask them (jail authorities) to show us CCTV footage for there are CCTVs installed at every jail.
“If they can show us the (CCTV) footage, we will accept”, a family member said adding if he has ‘fallen’, why is there no injury mark on his body except on the head? “He has been hit by some sharp object on his head”, she said.
“Once we reached the hospital, we were told that he is under treatment but when asked to let us in to see how the treatment was going, a person shockingly told us he had already expired and it was only an autopsy going on at that time”, she said. “Why were we not asked before the autopsy, why were we disguised all that time?” she further said.
“All we want is justice and we are ready to go to any extent to bring forth the facts pertaining to the death of our father”, she said.
When contacted, Superintendent Sub-jail Kupwara Shahbaz Hussain he said that the allegations were baseless and that the inmate had actually fallen off the stairs at the jail.
Regarding autopsy, the official said they had taken consent from the District Magistrate for autopsy. “We still have initiated a magisterial enquiry into the incident and we hope the report will come out within two to three weeks”, he said.
“If the bereaved family has any doubts, it can visit us anytime and we can allay any of their grievances or doubts”, the official added.
Pertinent to mention that the deceased Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, was under trial under FIR number 93/21 8/21 NDPS Act. (GNS)