A court in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) has declared a man, who went missing in Indian army’s custody, as legally dead nearly three decades after his disappearance.  According to Kashmir Media Service, a Srinagar court declared Abdul Rashid Wani legally dead almost 28 years after he went missing following his detention by Indian Army personnel in 1997, bringing a measure of legal closure to a long-pending custodial disappearance case. 

Wani, a resident of Madina Colony, Bemina, Srinagar, was arrested by personnel of the 2/8 Gorkha Rifles on July 7, 1997, from Rawalpora, Srinagar, along with another individual, Farooq Ahmad Butt, who was later released. Wani, however, never returned home, and his whereabouts remained unknown despite repeated efforts by his family. 

In a 13-page judgment, Special Mobile Magistrate PT&E Srinagar, Massarat Jabeen, relied on police reports and findings from a judicial inquiry indicating that Abdul Rashid Wani died in custody and that his body was disposed of. The court also observed that neither the administration nor the Srinagar Municipal Corporation produced any record confirming his release. 

The court took note of the prolonged suffering of Wani’s family, including his wife, Farida Shabnum, and sons, Junaid and Arsalan, who testified about the disappearance and its long-term impact on their lives. It also applied the legal principle that a person may be presumed dead after seven years of unexplained absence.  Pertinently, more than 8,000 Kashmiris have reportedly been arrested and disappeared by Indian Army, paramilitary, and police personnel since 1989 in the territory. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)