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| The martyr forgotten; courtesy: BJP | | He was "head" when cops were "rewarded" for disgracing Verma's body; he is at the helm now when cops have killed 2 civilians. Will justice be done? | | Bharat Bhushan
Early Times Report
JAMMU, June 26: Right man at the helm of affairs makes a lot of difference. The man, who was in command of Jammu police apparatus when cops were rewarded with plum postings for disgracing Kuldeep Verma's body during the 2008 Amarnath Land Row, is coincidentally at the helm in June 2015 also when six cops have been booked for killing two civilians in two unavoidable firing incidents. The question haunting Jammuites nowadays is if the guilty would be punished and probes taken to their logical end.
When I think about the 2008 land row, one incident of police "goondaraj" comes tumbling back into my consciousness. On the night of July 23, 2008, Kuldeep Verma's body was dishonoured by a DSP and some lower ranks at the instance of a senior police officer who then headed Jammu police. No action was taken against the guilty cops despite the 62-day-long agitation that followed. The same police officer happens to be at the helm of police affairs when two civilians -- a Sikh protester (on June 4) and a suspected drug smuggler (on June 21) - have lost their lives in unneccsary police firing in Jammu. It is hoped that the guilty would not go scot free this time and probes into the incidents would not be influenced.
While in July 2005, Jammuites protested cancellation of land allotted to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board at Baltal to raise temporary facilities for pilgrims, Omar Abdullah's impassionate parliament speech on July 22, 2005, added fuel to the fire. Two sentences in his address - It was an issue concerning our land. We fought for our land and will continue to fight for our land till our dying breath - inflamed passions in Jammu.
What brought focus on these sentences was the event on July 23 when Kuldeep Verma, a poet and jeweller from Bishnah, who had been on hunger strike with other activists of Amarnath Sangrash Samiti (ASS), declared, "We too can show Kashmiris that we can give our lives for our land." He then read out a small poem and fell unconscious. He had consumed poison before coming to the venue. He was dead by the time he was taken to hospital.
Then began a strange police drama that caused matters to go out of hand. Samiti activists brought Kuldeep's body back to the dharna venue where some plainclothes cops came, pretending to be his relatives, and took away the body. It was only after the cops started dumping it into a police Gypsy that they realised the mischief. The protesters chased away the policemen and brought the body back. Late in the evening, policemen again came to the venue and forcibly took the body away to Bishnah with the intention of cremating it clandestinely at night. But the mischief was leaked and hundreds of Bishnah residents gathered to stop the "sacrilegious act of cremating a Hindu after sun set".
While the police personnel resisted, angry villagers and Kuldeep's wife snatched his half-burnt body and cremated it the following morning with full religious rites. Despite protests over this highly condemnable police act, no action was taken against the guilty cops. They were rather rewarded with plum postings later. It is widely believed that the police personnel had attempted to burn the body by sprinkling petrol or kerosene oil on it on the orders of the senior police officer.
Another senior police officer, who is privy to the development, said Kuldeep's body was definitely "mishandled" and "dishonoured" by police personnel.
"When BJP leaders had already given their "secret" consent to help police in cremating the body at Talab Tillo where Kuldeep lived with his family in a rented house, I still fail to understand why the body was forcibly taken to Bishnah and disrespected," he added.
The incident had become the instant folklore. While Kuldeep was regarded as the Jammu's latest martyr, Omar was termed as the new villain. His death anniversary was celebrated by the state BJP as Martyr's Day for two years or so after his demise but the party has now forgotten him fully. He is a forgotten martyr now.
Senior police officers in J&K have been often found helping their "favourite" juniors whenever they are caught in controversies or unlawful acts. A former Jammu SSP (now ADGP) faced a CBI probe, which was ordered by then chief minister Farooq Abdullah, but he was saved by an ex-DGP who was alleged to have influenced the police witnesses.
Saving of the guilty cops by their seniors is a wrong practice and is unlawful. Everyone, irrespective of his official status, has to be equal before law. Any effort to convert J&K into a police state ought to be defeated by the government with an iron hand. This should not be allowed to take roots in a democratic set up. This is must for the growth of a healthy democracy. |
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