Mehbooba Mufti demands urgent prison reforms, fair trials, and humane treatment for Kashmiri detainees lodged in jails outside J&K.
Former CM Mehbooba Mufti during a protest in Srinagar, urging prison reforms and justice for Kashmiri detainees.
Srinagar: Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday expressed grave concern over the condition of Kashmiri prisoners lodged in jails outside Jammu and Kashmir. She demanded immediate government intervention to ensure justice, humane treatment, and adherence to legal processes.
While addressing a peaceful protest in Srinagar, Mufti stated that the protest aimed to raise a voice for the release of Kashmiri detainees, many of whom, she said, are languishing in various prisons across India without fair trials or access to legal aid.
“We wanted to stage a peaceful protest to demand justice for Kashmiri people who are imprisoned, even outside J&K. Leaders like Shabir Shah and senior Jamaat-e-Islami figures are severely ill. If this is the state of known leaders, one can only imagine the suffering of poor, unknown detainees,” she said.
Mufti appealed to National Conference leader Omar Abdullah to rise above political lines and take meaningful action. She urged him to meet the Union Home Minister and ensure that Kashmiri prisoners are shifted to jails within the Union Territory, making it easier for families to visit and legal defence to be arranged.
She also placed several key demands, including the local lodgement of prisoners to ensure access to legal representation and family visits, speedy and time-bound trials to prevent indefinite detention, and the mandatory production of the accused during each hearing for fair judicial procedure.
She stressed the principle of "bail, not jail," highlighting the need for transparent processes in life sentence remission, and called for parole and furlough to be treated as legal rights. Medical bail, she added, must be granted on humanitarian grounds, especially in cases of serious illness.
Mufti also emphasized the urgent need for the full implementation of jail manuals to protect prisoner dignity and rights. She demanded that the government allow an all-party delegation to visit the jails and assess the prisoners’ conditions and legal status.
“Justice in Jammu and Kashmir cannot be selective. It requires bold, humane reforms and a system that doesn’t punish without trial,” she concluded.
