'Tortured brutally for 6 days': CBI arrests 8 JK police personnel for custodial torture case of fellow Policemen

August 21, 2025 by News Desk

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested eight Jammu Kashmir Police personnel for their alleged role in the custodial torture of Constable Khursheed Ahmad Chohan, in what the Supreme Court has described as among the “most barbaric instances of police atrocity” in recent times.

According to reports, the arrests were made late Wednesday after extensive questioning. Those held include Deputy Superintendent of Police Aijaz Ahmad Naiko, Sub-Inspector Riyaz Ahmad, and six others who were posted at the Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) Kupwara. The CBI is expected to seek their remand before the Special Court in Srinagar for further interrogation.

Chohan, who was posted in Baramulla, had been summoned to Kupwara on February 17, 2023, purportedly in a narcotics case. He was later handed over to the JIC, where, according to his wife’s complaint, he was brutally tortured for six days. The complaint alleged he was beaten with iron rods and sticks, subjected to electric shocks, and mutilated. On February 26, he was admitted to Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar, with his severed genitalia brought separately in a plastic bag — a detail that drew sharp censure from the Supreme Court.

Medical records, cited in media reports, confirmed “complete mutilation of genitalia with both testicles removed, lacerations on the scrotum, bruises on buttocks extending to thighs, vegetative particles in the rectum, and multiple fractures.”

The Supreme Court, which transferred the case to the CBI after rejecting the Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s handling of it, castigated the administration for attempting to pass off the incident as a suicide attempt. The bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta ruled that the injuries were “impossible to be self-inflicted” and accused the local police of fabricating evidence, including a counter-FIR against Chohan.

Calling the episode “brutal and inhuman custodial torture,” the apex court observed that the case exposed both the misuse of state power and attempts at a cover-up. The court ordered Rs 50 lakh compensation to be paid to Chohan, recoverable from those found responsible once departmental proceedings are complete.

The CBI has also been tasked with investigating systemic lapses at the JIC Kupwara, including forensic examination of the premises, scrutiny of CCTV footage, and a review of detention and interrogation protocols. A status report is to be submitted by November 10, 2025.

Chohan’s wife, who pursued the case from the High Court to the Supreme Court, alleged that the then SSP Kupwara remained a “mute spectator” to her husband’s ordeal. The CBI, however, has not named the officer in its FIR.

With the arrests now made, attention turns to the CBI’s wider probe into custodial practices in Jammu Kashmir, a case that has come to symbolize systemic abuse and the failure of institutions meant to protect citizens’ rights.