Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said her petition to the high court for shifting prisoners of Jammu and Kashmir from outside the Union Territory (UT) to J-K was aimed at easing the suffering of their families.
Talking to reporters here, Mehbooba said while the government has not provided accurate figures of the number of such prisoners despite writing to them for the last few years, especially after 2019, more than 3,000-3,500 people were arrested and have been lodged in jails outside J-K.
She said their families were suffering and many of the families had to sell their properties for the legal fight.
On Monday, Mehbooba appeared before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, urging it to take a humanitarian view and transfer all undertrial prisoners from the UT who are currently lodged in jails outside J-K.
In her public interest litigation (PIL), the former chief minister urged the court to order that these prisoners be brought back to J-K unless authorities provide specific written reasons, justifying their continued detention outside the UT.
“Many others do not have the money to even travel there. There was a hope that after government formation (in J-K), it (the government) would take the issue up with the central government and provide them legal aid,” she told reporters.
Mehbooba, a former chief minister of the erstwhile state of J-K, said most of the prisoners were undertrials and offences have not been established against them yet.
“They are only getting postponements (of hearing dates) and the process is very long. We do not know their condition as their families only get to see them only for ten seconds on the court screens when they are brought to courts. They (families) are in a situation of helplessness and despair,” she said, adding that “we are not saying they should be released, but at least shifted to J-K”.
The PDP president said she wrote many letters, including to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, J-K director general of police (DGP) and chief secretary, to provide details about the number of such prisoners and the jails they were in.
“I had also appealed to (chief minister) Omar (Abdullah) to take a delegation of all parties to assess their (prisoners’) situation and talk to them,” she added.
Mehbooba said while the people get to know about the health conditions of the prominent prisoners like Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Shah, head of Jamaat-e-Islami, and JKLF chairman Yasin Malik, “we do not get to know about the others, the poor”.
“So, I went to court. We pleaded there that they (families) are not in such a situation that they will go to courts on their own, they do not have that wherewithal, and we request the court as it is the last door to hope for justice,” she said.
The prisoners, if not released, should at least be brought to J-K so that their families can meet them and “it is easy to seek legal consultations here”, she said.
She criticised Chief Minister Abdullah’s reported remarks that he cannot talk about the issue of prisoners as the issue was sub-judice now.
“We had brought a resolution in the assembly on the issue that they be shifted here. But the NC government and the Speaker disallowed it and it was not allowed for a discussion. Abdullah did not remember it (talking about prisoners) then,” she said.
Questioning Abdullah’s stand, Mehbooba asked whether statehood was not sub-judice, but the chief minister still kept harping about it.
“How many times did Abdullah meet the prime minister and the (Union) home minister, and how many times has he spoken on statehood despite it being sub-judice? But I have never heard him state that he talked about the prisoners in his meeting with the home minister.
“Is this issue only sub-judice? Was Article 370 not sub-judice, but did we not talk about that?” she added.
The PDP president said she went to court with the intention that the prisoners be shifted to J-K to ease the sufferings of their families. “But, what can I do if Omar feels bad even about that?” she said.