Jameela Begum, a resident of Miskeen Bagh, Khanyar area of Srinagar, has been fighting a lonely battle for over 26 years, to seek justice for the killing of her husband, Muhammad Ramzan Bhat.

Bhat, 37, was allegedly killed in police custody on the intervening night of May 31 and June 1, 1996. He was accused of being a militant and involved in civilian killings – a charge denied by his family and not substantiated with any proof by the police.

Jameela was 33 and a mother of three young children in 1996 when her husband was taken away by the police. Since then, she has knocked on every door for justice, while also providing for the upbringing of her sons.

We were a small and happy family of five including our three young sons. My elder son was in fifth standard (10-year-old), second son was in first standard (6-year-old) and my younger son was still a toddler when their father was snatched away from them. I would drop kids at our relative’s place and then leave home to meet police and government officials to seek justice. I have gone to every concerned police station and government office to follow up on this case. Some police and government officials would give me something in writing but the case was never seriously pursued. We didn’t get any compensation either for all these years.
Jameela Begum

A ‘Botched Up’ Investigation

After repeated attempts, Jameela got the case reopened in 2006. But the SIT, which was constituted then to reinvestigate the case, didn’t follow up.

She also approached the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) whose recommendations were again not implemented by the then state government.

Finally, on 28 October 2021, a Srinagar court directed the Jammu and Kashmir Police chief to constitute a Special Investigations Team (SIT) to investigate the alleged murder. The court also sought answers on why an earlier constituted SIT sat over the case for three years.
It has been alleged in the instant case that both the deceased were terrorists and were involved in multiple terrorist activities including the killing of three civilians, kidnapping, and other various action against security forces….However, the outcome of the cases registered in pursuance of those acts has not been placed on record. There is no substantial evidence on record to substantiate the said fact.
Ruling of the Judge of a Srinagar Court

 

The postmortem report dated July 1, 1996, a copy of which is with the family, also mentions torture marks on Bhat’s body. The report notes “sustained sharp penetrating injury to the paraspinal region leading to liver laceration” and “profuse hemorrhage –shock–cardio respiratory arrest and death”.

The police had submitted the case closure report on March 15, 2021 after the family had petitioned the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) seeking the case status. Jameela then filed a protest petition via advocate Tabassum Rasool which led to the favourable court order.

The court observed that it is “very unfortunate that 25 years have elapsed since the case was registered in the year 1996 and till date the case has not been taken to logical conclusion” while terming the police closure report a “botched investigation”. SSP Srinagar has been directed by the court to conclude the investigations in six months.

There is no proof of his involvement in any militancy related activities. Otherwise the police would have proved it by now. All that our family wants now is justice which has been denied to us for more than 25 years. I will not stop seeking justice for my husband, till my last breath.
Jameela Begum
This story first appeared on thequint.com