Days after being granted bail by the court of Additional Secessions Judge in Srinagar, Peerzada Mohammed Waseem, one of the twenty-one accused in the DySP Lynching case of 2017 has been booked under the Public Safety Act.
A DySP named Mohammed Ayub Pandit was lynched outside the Jamia Masjid of Srinagar during the holy night of Shab-e-Qadr on 22 June 2017.
After completing investigations, Police filed a charge sheet in the Srinagar court against 17 accused persons on 7 October 2017. It also filed a separate challan against four juveniles in the case and the prosecution has listed 84 witnesses in the case.
On the 07th day of April 2022, the Additional Secessions court of Srinagar granted bail to the accused person on furnishing bail bonds with two sureties to the tune of Rs. 2 lakh, and the same has been furnished accepted, and attested by this court.
“You (Kot Balwal Jammu authorities) are, as such directed to release the above named accused (Peerzada Mohammed Waseem) from the custody after obtaining personal bonds in the like amount provided that he is not involved in any other case or offences,” the court said.
The court imposed several conditions on the accused which include that the accused person shall appear before the Investigating Officer (IO) and cooperate with IO as and when directed. “The Accused person shall not induce witnesses or the prosecution directly or indirectly and shall not tamper with the evidence of the prosecution,” the court said in its conditions imposed on the accused,” the bail order dated 07 April 2022 read.
However, immediately after his bail, the Jammu Kashmir administration booked Waseem under the Public Safety Act, 1978 which allows the detention of any person for up to two years on the grounds of ‘suspicion’. In its PSA Dossier, the administration in Srinagar has said that they have expressed concern and said that Waseem is likely to pose a serious threat to law and order in Kashmir, hence his detention under PSA is “utmost” requirement.
The Senior Superintendent of Police in Srinagar vide No. LGL/Det-PSA/2022/6561-64 Dated, 11-4 – 2022 had submitted a dossier for issuance of a warrant for Waseem’s detention under the provisions of the JK Public Safely Act.
“Whereas you are deeply influenced by radical ideology and are in continuous touch with such elements. With passage of time, you came into contact yeah instigators and disgruntled elements who motivated you to indulge in stone-pelting and other anti-national activities which are bearing direct threat to the maintenance of public order as well as security of UT of J&K. You got motivated rapidly and indulged in stone-pelting / anti-national activities and also provoked general masses, especially the youth of the area and its adjacent areas, for unlawful activities, in short span of time you became a chronic stone pelter in Nowhatta/ Nawakadal and its adjoining areas. Being a hardcore stone pelter and resident of downtown area keeps the locality, including educational institutes, business establishments, government offices, etc., under threat,” the PSA dossier reads.
The PSA dossier has said that Waseem has been constantly engaged in ‘Anti-National’ activities and has an “aim and objective” of disturbing “tranquility” in the areass around downtown Srinagar. “Whereas you have an evil ideology for fomenting trouble which is likely to disturb public order as well as the security of UT of JK, besides creating fear among the general masses by way of anti-national activities, you not only yourself indulge in Illegal activities but also instigated other youth of your area. With other anti-national elements, you have formed a gang with an aim and objective to disturb the peace and public tranquility besides paving the way to secessionist elements to play with sentiments of common man for creating large scale law and order problems,” the dossier accessed by The Kashmiriyat reads.
The Jammu Kashmir Police has also made a mention of the FIRs lodged against Waseem in several Police stations.
“Whereas you have been the main accused in DYSP lynching case at Nowhatta on the intervening night of 22/23/06/2017 in cognizance of a gruesome incident in which an officer of rank of DY Superintendent of Police was lynched to death by a mob chanting slogans against the Union of India and provision of JK State with the Union of India,” the four paged dossier further reads.
The said officer belonging to Security JGK Police was deployed at the said spot that is Jamia Masjid Srinagar, in view of the large gathering in Jamia Masjid on the eve of Shab-e-Qadr, reads the dossier, adding, “Miscreants, including you, attacked the officer and snatched his service pistol, and thrashed him ruthlessly till he succumbed to the beating. The accused persons didn’t stop over this but inhumanely dragged the dead of deceased out from the area adjacent to the mosque and tore his clothes. When Police reached the spot, they recovered the body of the deceased officer from the spot. His underwear and two cuffs of the shirt, which were intact in this regard, a case FIR No. 53/2017 475, 148, 192, 341, 302, 149 RPC, 13 UAPA Act Stand in P/5 Nowhatta. The investigation of said stands closed Challaned before Hon’ High Court.”
The Jammu Kashmir admin has also stated that the situation is Jammu Kashmir is returning to normalcy, however, the law and order situation is still looming at a large, and “if you are given the liberty to move freely, you may again indulge yourself in the same path.”
After being arrested in 2017, Waseem has spent most of his lodgment time in Jammu’s Kot Bhalwal jail, where he is currently lodged. The Jammu Kashmir admin has also accused him of aiding the militant outfits TRF and JeM.
“Whereas your audacity can be gauged from the activities you have carried out by not only been found indulging in stone-pelting activities instigating youth but off late have been found to be aiding the new self-styled militant outfit TRF and JeM, which are a potent threat to the maintenance of the security of UT of Jammu Kashmir,” the Jammu Kashmir admin mentions in its PSA dossier.
Taking a wholesome view of the likely impact of your activities, upon the overall scenario, in case you remain at large at this point of time, it can be safely said that the impact will be adverse so far as the maintenance of security of Jammu Kashmir is concerned, the admin said, adding, “In order to stop you from indulging in above activities, your detention under the provisions of the J&K Public Safety Act at this stage has become imperative as the normal law has not been found sufficient to stop you from indulging in the above activities.”
“On the basis of pre-paras, I have reached to the conclusion that it would be expedited to detain you under the provision of the JK public safety act, 1978, for which orders are being issued separately,” reads the copy of the PSA dossier signed by the District Magistrate of Srinagar.