For residents of Kwath, a remote village on a mountain top accessible only through foot, a call from the Army is not out of the ordinary since each side depends on the other.
That’s why when four men from the village got a call on Wednesday, November 20, asking them to report to the Army camp at Chas, they didn’t hesitate to go. Neither did the villagers think much of it.
But when the men did not return by evening, the village turned anxious and a search began. When Irshad Ahmad, a carpenter and resident of the village, turned up at the gates of Army camp, he saw the four men allegedly “dumped outside”, unable to move.
“I called others so we could take them back,” Ahmad, who also attended to them at the Army hospital at Bhandarkote in Kishtwar, told The Indian Express. “They were unable to move. When I lifted their clothes, I was numb. They had been beaten ruthlessly; two of them vomited blood.”
After the alleged custodial torture of the five villagers in Topa Pir in Jammu’s Poonch district last year – three of the men died of injuries – this is the first allegation of torture against the Army, forcing them to act swiftly and initiate a probe.
In a post on X on Thursday, the White Knight Corps, the official social media account of 16 Corps, Indian Army, wrote, “Based on specific intelligence of the move of a group of terrorists in the Kishtwar Sector, an operation was launched by Rashtriya Rifles on November 20. There are some reports on the alleged ill-treatment of civilians during the conduct of the operation. An investigation is being launched to ascertain the facts. Necessary follow-up action will be ensured.”
When contacted, the Defence spokesperson in Jammu said he would share more information after getting updates from Kishtwar.
Kwath, a village of over 250 households, is an hour and a half trek from the closest motorable road. The Army’s camp in Chas falls on another mountain ridge, an hour-long trek from Kwath.
From Chas to Kwath, villagers say they took turns to carry the four men – Mehraj-ud-din (40), Sajad Ahmad (33), Abdul Kabir (35) and Mushtaq Ahmad (36) – on their shoulders. All four work as labourers.
Dawood Ahmad, a resident, said that once they reached the village, they decided the men needed to be hospitalised. Residents say this is around the time they got a call from the Army. “An officer called to say they will resolve the issue,” Ahmad claimed.
The residents, however, decided to take the men to the Kishtwar hospital for treatment on their own. “We told them our first priority is to save their lives. They had been beaten black and blue, on their buttocks, legs, ribs and back,” said Ghulam Mohammad, Mehraj-ud-din’s father-in-law. “One of them was hit in his eye.”
By the time the residents reached the village of Void, from where they were to board the vehicles for the hospital, two village defence guards (VDGs) approached them. “They told us not to press for an FIR and said they will get the issue resolved,” Dawood claimed, adding that it was conveyed that the “brotherhood” would end if the villagers pursued the matter.
The villagers claimed they boarded eight vehicles, only to be stopped again at Dadpeth, this time by the police. “SHO sahib told us they will admit the victims at Chatroo hospital and take action against the Army,” Dawood claimed. “We told them that hospital doesn’t have good facilities and we will take the men to Kishtwar hospital. They didn’t stop us.”
As they reached Bhandarkote, the villagers claim, the Army stopped their cavalcade and closed the road with barricades. “They asked us to admit the men at the Army hospital there,” claimed Mohammad. “When we didn’t agree, they asked us to wait for their superior officer. They said they will let us go only if he permits.”
The villagers say they left the vehicles behind and again took the victims on their shoulders. “Just when we crossed the barriers, the officer arrived. He went straight into the camp,” claimed Dawood. “As we tried to move ahead, we received a call that he wanted to meet us.”
“He (the officer) acknowledged we have been wronged and promised it would never happen again,” claimed Bashir Ahmad, a former panch from Kwath, who led the talks. “He promised Rs 25,000 for each victim and to bear the expenses of their families for three months or until they are able to get back to work. He promised they would treat them at the Army hospital and, if needed, shift them to Srinagar or Udhampur.”
The villagers say their legislator also played a positive role. “When we called him, he was in Jammu. He sent his DDC to meet us. He called the police and the Army and he was online with us till 3 in the night,” said Bashir.
Inderwal MLA P L Sharma, from J&K’s ruling National Conference, said Army officers assured him of action. “I clearly told them that it won’t work like this,” he said. “I told them that if you have to question somebody, you should call him to the police station.”
The residents said they have no grudges with the Army but want action against those who allegedly tortured the men.
A police officer called the incident an “aberration” but said it should not have happened. “If they wanted to question the men, they should have called us,” he said. “It could have turned into a major issue if senior officers had not intervened.”
According to sources, the men were summoned against the backdrop of the killing of a Junior Commissioned Officer of the Army and injuries to three soldiers in the Chask area on November 10. Days earlier, on November 7, two village defence guards were abducted and killed by militants in the Keshwan forests of Kishtwar.
Villagers claim the four men were asked if they had seen any militants in their village, and why didn’t they inform the authorities “when militants offered Friday prayers in the village mosque”.
“This is untrue. If they (the Army) had information that militants were in the mosque, why didn’t they come at that time,” said Dawood.
From Chas to Kwath, villagers say they took turns to carry the four men – Mehraj-ud-din (40), Sajad Ahmad (33), Abdul Kabir (35) and Mushtaq Ahmad (36) – on their shoulders. All four work as labourers. 
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