Shabir Khan
On December 23, 2022, Kashmir woke up to the horrifying news of a man killing his mother and three others in Anantnag’s Aishmuqam area, bringing the valley to a standstill. The accused Javed Ahmed was said to be under the influence of Alcohol and other drugs, as was claimed by officials and locals.
The incident triggered panic and disbelief among most of the Kashmiris. There has been a sharp increase in crime in the valley. In 2021, The Jammu Kashmir Police’s DG claimed that there has been a 15.41 percent increase in the crimes registered in 2020.
Months later, another news has shook the Kashmir valley, at least many of its residents. A woman has been murdered by her son in the Dangerpora area of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. The man allegedly choked his own mother till she lost her life. However, as of now, the incident has no eyewitnesses, as the 67-year-old mother was living with her youngest son, who is in jail now for her murder.
Releasing the annual edition of the crime gazette, the Director-General of Police, Dilbagh Singh said that a total of 28,936 cases were registered under various sections of the Indian Penal code in Jammu Kashmir during 2020 against 25,072 cases during the year 2019.
As per the gazette, The crime rate for the year 2020 remained at 216.90 per lakh population as against 189.41 for the year 2019.
According to National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), the overall crime graph in Jammu Kashmir increased by 24.6 per cent in 2021 as compared to the previous year.
Showkat as per locals including his family has been under the heavy influence of drugs for the past several years. The family says that they handed him over to the Police several times, however, he was released most of the times. “He was released as he was heavily influenced by drugs and the Police thought he might die in their custody,” they said.
What actually happened in Dangerpora?
For the past several years, her children separated from their mother after getting married and at last she was forced to remain with Showkat Ahmed, the accused. Her other children, as per locals, insisted Ayesha Aapa, that she should live with them. “However, Aapa insisted that she wanted to live with her youngest son Showkat Ahmed,” her daughter told The Kashmiriyat.
Around 3 A.M, the daughter of the woman received a call that her mother had died. Married in a nearby village, she rushed out of her home and reached her mother’s house in Dangerpora where she found her mother had been strangulated to death.
The brother of the accused said that around 11 PM, he (Showkat) knocked at his door and told that there was someone inside the small mud house where he and his mother lived. The eldest son, Mushtaq Ahmed lives in a concrete house just next to her mother’s old mud house with flimsy walls, broken doors said that Showkat knocked at his door loudly forcing him to open the door.
“When I opened the door, I suspected that he was under the influence of drugs, I held the door and shut it. I did not allow him to enter my house. Within no time, he started throwing stones at the window panes of my house,” Mushtaq said.
Ayesha Aapa asked Showkat to stop disturbing her eldest son at the dark of the night. “But Showkat asked her to shut up or else he will choke her to death. Within no time, my mother made a loud cry which forced me to come out my house. I raised an alarm and proceeded towards the house. When we reached the house of my mother we heard someone speaking in Urdu, but it was him as there was nobody else in the house. He then threw another stone at my house,” he told The Kashmiriyat.
He said he called his mother several times, but there was no response. “Within no time, two locals came and informed us that the Army had launched a cordon and search operation in the area and had asked the locals to gather at one place. I rushed out in fear and told the officials of the entire episode. They sent some of their men with us with lights and It was then, I found my mother lying dead near the well behind the house. He tried to conceal her body under a large piece of wood,” he told The Kashmiriyat.
As per locals, it was Showkat who had raised a fake alarm to the Army over the presence of militants in the area. During the happening of the episode, the locals said, Army had been looking for militants in the locality.
As the dead body was found. The Police asked the family members to rush her to the hospital where the deceased underwent medico-legal formalities.
A Police official said that as soon as Police received the information, it laid a search operation around the area to nab the accused.
The accused had escaped the spot, however, a team of police under the supervision of station house officer, Khalid Fayaz nabbed the accused within hours and took him into detention.
The Police have lodged an FIR and started investigation into the matter.
This incident came hours after a throat slit body of a 9-year-old girl was found in Kupwara.
Under the influence of drugs
A report shared by the Centre in the parliament on Wednesday said that nearly 10 lakh people in Jammu Kashmir are addicted to drugs.
According to official statistics, 16.23746 kg of heroin worth over Rs 32 crore was seized from drug dealers in Kashmir in the first half of 2022, as per the data.
Additionally, 359 persons from nine districts in Kashmir have been detained by the police on suspicion of narcotics trafficking. The only district in which no such incidence has so far been reported this year is Shopian.
According to official statistics, during the first half of 2022, the Police also recovered cannabis (129785 grams), illegal alcohol (133 bottles), brown sugar (2508.50 grams), tablets (56139), codeine (2271 bottles), poppy straw (1095.80 kg), and charas (72365 grams) as well as cash worth Rs 7,60,260 from the possession of drug dealers.
Showkat and his mother lived in a tiny shed sort of a structure and their beds not more than 6 feet away from each other. As one after the other children separated from the mother after they got married and at last Aapa lived with her youngest son, a thing not uncommon in Kashmir. Her eldest son, Mushtaq had separated from his mother 12 years ago, as per the locals.
Farooq Ahmed, the Sarpanch of the area said that the eldest son tried to convince his mother to live in her concrete house, however, she refused every time. “Perhaps she knew there was nobody to take care of Showkat and all her other children were doing well,” said an elderly local man.
The 32-year-old was unemployed and had been labouring and been doing odd jobs to feed himself and his mother, locals said. They said that he recently found the job of a driver, but on Wednesday, the employer fired him from the job stating that he did not need drivers anymore.
Farooq said that later on the night, he (Showkat) went inside his house, then tried to attack his uncle, Bashir Ahmed who also lives very nearby, then he went to his brother’s house who also shut his doors at him, then he threw stones at his house and after that, Showkat went to his mother’s house where his mother was resting in her bed. He went to her bed and murdered her after which he tried to dispose off her body.
Locals gathered around the house in large numbers in disbelief and demanded a stringent punishment to the culprit. They said, “It is really saddening to see Kashmir having moved to such a disaster. In my seventy (70) years of age, I have never seen any incident like this. It is not that now people are coming out to report these crimes. Crimes like such had no space in the society. Who would kill a mother?” Ghulam Hassan, a local resident in his late 70’s asked.
“At least ten to fifteen years,” said a neighbour, when asked how long had Showkat been consuming drugs. He claimed that Showkat had been arrested innumerable times.
Additional reporting by Meer Irfan