Rabiya Kousar (20) vividly remembers the nightmare that unfolded on her wedding day on Monday. The young bride, her groom and several others, including women and children, were part of a marriage party that was allegedly detained for nearly two hours and subjected to repeated searches by the Army troops. Rabiya, members of the wedding procession claimed, was also made to step out of her doli thrice for searches by the Army personnel. Defence spokesperson Lt Colonel Manish Mehta said: “We had an input that three terrorists were trying to exfiltrate to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Accordingly the marriage party was stopped and checked. It was found that three persons were not carrying any identification documents.” The bride, a resident of Mangalnad in Rajouri’s Manjakote area, got married to Mohammad Razak of Balakote sector’s Ramlutta village in the adjoining Poonch district Monday morning. On its way back to the Balakote sector, the procession was stopped at the gate of a barbed-wire fence by troops of 18 Bihar for identification. While Lt Colonel Mehta claimed that the marriage party was allowed to proceed to their village after routine check as the sarpanch gave in writing that he knew each one of them, those part of the procession had a different story to tell. “As it was getting dark, we asked the troops to allow the local residents to cross the fence after checking their names already entered in the register, and to allow others on the basis of the identity cards issued to them by the Army,” said Mohammad Ghayas, elder brother of the bridegroom. Except the bride and her few relatives, almost everyone in the 110-strong marriage party had got their names entered in the register maintained by troops at the gate while leaving for Rajouri in the morning. After they formed a queue and the names were cross-checked, the procession was allowed pass. But only a few among them had managed to cross when, according to the marriage party, the wedding party was intercepted again by a Major from the 43 Rashtriya Rifles and his men. They were again told to stand in queue as the troops claimed tip off about presence of some terrorists in the group. While the troops frisked the male members, the female SPOs deployed at the fence searched the women. But despite an all-clear from the SPOs, the Major ordered another round of thorough search, allegedly forcing the bride to step out of her doli thrice. As the Major reportedly insisted on searching the box being carried by the bride, whose key was with a family member who had already crossed the fence, its lock was broken, only to find clothes and jewellery inside it, claimed Ghayas. Tempers reportedly flared as the marriage party objected to the Major’s insistence on repeatedly searching the doli. Significantly, the marriage procession included an Army Subedar, Gul Mohammad of 12 JAK LI, CRPF hawaldar Gul Hussain and a state police constable, Tariq Mehmood. “They too were made to stand in queue and subjected to repeated frisking. Many a people from the bride’s side returned from the fence itself,’’ said Razak. The entire drama is believed to have continued for nearly two hours, with the marriage party — including women and children — standing in a queue along the barbed wire fence and troops allegedly having their pointed guns at them. Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Mendhar claimed that a clash with the troops was averted due to police intervention. However, no case was registered as Commanding Officers of both the regiments visited the village to “apologise”. Confirming the visit by the COs, Razak said they were assured that such an incident will not reccur in the future.
