February 24
Peerzada Muhammad Ashraf, 35, the prime accused in a grenade blast incident of 2004 has spent over 12 years in Jail—for the family, however the road to justice still continues to remain distant.
The family of Ashraf who was recently shifted to Kot Balwal jail in Jammu from District Jail of Islamabad (anantnag) has sought official intervention as they say that he has went missing from the Jail.
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat, Firdous Ahmed, the brother of Ashraf has said that the family members went to meet him several weeks back in Jammu, however they told the family that he was not in the Jail.
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”They told us that he has been shifted to a Haryana Jail, we went there, but the Jail authorities told us, he is not in that jail too,” he said.
We tried to verify his whereabouts from several people, however, the officials we met have not clue as to where Ashraf is, his brother told The Kashmiriyat.
Ashraf has been under detention for the past fifteen years and has been booked under Public Safety act (PSA), 13 Times.
Under the PSA, which is in force in the state since 1978, police can arrest any suspect and keep him/her in jail for two years without trial.
Ashraf, son of Peerzada Ghulam Nabi, a resident of Batagund Verinag, was arrested on December 2006 in connection with a grenade attack that had occurred on 19-07-2004 during a government-sponsored health Mela at Kapran Verinag area of South Kashmir’s Islamabad (Anantnag) district, in which Chief Engineer R&B, including two civilians and some policemen also lost their life.
Ashraf’s trial that started in 2006, went on till 2011 at Principal session judge district court Islamabad (Anantnag), all the witnesses deposed their statements before the court, however, they could not recognize Ashraf as the one involved in this attack.
“I was also booked under two consecutive Public Safety Acts under Arms Act, 7/25, he was kept under detention for more than two years,” Firdous told The Kashmiriyat.
The last year, Ashraf was shifted to Kot Balwal jail, however since then, there hardly has been any trace of him, his brother told The Kashmiriyat.