Kashmiri man accused of stealing paraded shirtless with hands tied on Jammu police vehicle

The man was identified as Ishraq Ahmed of Parmpillan in Uri tehsil of Baramulla district. Police said he was living in Jammu’s Qasim Nagar area.

The SSP’s inquiry order said the incident seen in the viral video constituted acts on the part of police personnel that were “unprofessional, unbecoming of members of a disciplined organisation, and calls for stern departmental action…” The SSP entrusted the inquiry to the Sub Divisional Police Officer of City (North), and asked him to submit his report within a week.

Station House Officer of Bakshi Nagar, Inspector Azad Manhas, denied any police role in parading the man.

The inspector said the man was caught by members of the public after he tried to rob a patient’s attendant outside the hospital. He said that when police reached the spot, a large crowd were already beating him. It was allegedly his third such theft since last week, the SHO said.

“We rescued him from the mob and put him inside the gypsy to bring him to the police station. However, the angry mob outnumbered the cops and dragged the accused out of the vehicle,” he said, adding that the crowd made him sit, shirtless, on the bonnet of the vehicle, and put a garland of slippers around his neck and tied his hands with a rope behind his back.

The inspector claimed that the police personnel waited for the crowd to calm down, after which they put the man inside the vehicle and brought him to the station.