70-year-old Jamaat activist jailed again 3 months after release

He is seventy-years-old and ailing. And yet he has been hauled again into prison for his political views, just three months after he was released a jail in Jammu.

In 2016 Muhamad Ramzan Sheikh of Rampora village of Qaimoh, a Jamaat Islami activist, was sent to jail for being an active participant in pro-freedom protests in Kulgam and had been freed in May this year. According to his family he was arrested by the police last week from the court premises where he had gone to attend a hearing in one of the cases against him. He has been booked under Public Safety Act (PSA) and hauled to the Kotbalwal jail, Jammu.

In April this year, deputy commissioner Kulgam had written to district police superintendent recommending his release on humanitarian grounds so that he could attend the wedding of his daughter.

The family of Sheikh had approached the DC pleading with him to intervene and help secure the freedom of Sheikh. Greater Kashmir also carried a story on him and he was released only a couple of days before the marriage of his daughter. Sheikh’s family blame the authorities for victimizing him.

“In 2016 he only participated in peaceful pro-freedom rallies. This time around he mostly remained confined to his home. I don’t know why he is being punished without any reason,” said his wife Mughli Begum. She said that the police have yet again charged him for instigating violence which is frivolous.

“He participated in the funeral of his brother’s grandnephew Sheikh Tauseef (Hizb commander) –killed in the Shopian encounter. Can’t we now even mourn the death of our loved ones,” Mughli asked.

She said that her husband was not keeping well as his health had deteriorated during his detention in Katua jail last time. “It is not possible for the family to travel to Jammu to meet him,” Mughli said.

The PSA, which has been termed as lawless law by human rights watch dog Amnesty International allows the police to detain a person without a trial for six months. However, it has been noticed that once released, this draconian piece of legislation is again used to detain the released person, sometimes outside the court.