Srinagar: A trial court in Srinagar on Wednesday granted two weeks time to state prosecuting officer to go through the case details of Umar Qayoom, teenager who was allegedly beaten to death by around half a dozen policemen and CRPF men in 2010 at Soura main market.
The teenage boy had suffered internal bleeding which led to his death on August 25, 2010 at SKIMS hospital. Though seven years have passed, no FIR has been registered against the accused personnel involved in his death and police have vehemently negated the allegations of beating him to death.
However, the state counsel on Wednesday admitted before the court that the CRPF personnel beat-up Umar before he died at SKIMS. On being asked as to whether the police knew that CRPF personnel were involved in thrashing of Umar the counsel said that it was the negligence of concerned police station and sought time of two weeks to ascertain the facts from the police department.
All along a petition has been filed by his aggrieved father before the court to seek justice for his son but to this date nothing concrete has come out.
The family alleges that a police officer, Zahoor Ahmad Khan, on duty at the time of Umar’s death, is the person responsible for killing the teenager who could have saved the kid if he had admitted him to the nearby hospital on time.
Irony to this he was kept in police station Soura before he was bailed out.
According to Abdul Qayoom father of the deceased teenager said, “On that day when he was ruthlessly beaten up, I went to the Police station Soura. The condition of my son was worse, blood was oozing from his body. I begged before the concerned SHO but he didn’t pay any heed but told me to leave.”
After Umar was bailed out, he was immediately taken to SKIMS wherein doctors declared him half dead.
When he was released,he was not in good condition,he was vomiting blood from his mouth.
On August 25, Umar Qayoom died due to ‘intrapulmonary hemorrhage’ which also led to failure of his vital organs because of the damage caused to them.
On July 27, 2011, the then CJM Srinagar had taken a strong exception to the delay by police in reporting to court about the incident. Yashpal Bourney, the then CJM Srinagar, ordered SSP Srinagar to personally supervise the probe and appoint a deputy superintendent of police to investigate the circumstances which led to Umar’s death.
“The facts from the file reveal a sordid picture of how irresponsibly and irrationally state police is functioning,” CJM had stated.
The Commission of Inquiry(Col) after examining the Umar’s case recommended registration of a murder case against police personnel as the commission observed. “We are satisfied with the contention of the petitioner that his son died because of Police torture after he was arrested and are of firm opinion that this is custodial death and makes recommendations that a case should be registered against such police officials of Police Station, Soura who were on duty on August 20, 2010 and are responsible for the action,” the court said. (Courtesy: Nusrat Sidiq/KR)
