Prisoner of police guesswork trapped for life

The officer further revealed Wagay is under protective custody. “As far as we are concerned, he is free. But it is the will of his family that he be kept in prison. His father came to us, requesting not to release him because his family is concerned for his safety,” he said.

But even if Wagay is allowed to walk free, he will never really be free. The ghosts of the Sikh carnage in March this year continue to haunt him. “I know life will never be normal again,” he told this correspondent. “Though I belong to a poor family, my life was full of happiness. I used to sell milk for a living every morning at neighbouring Chak Ishardas village. Then I would get my cricket bat and play the whole day,” he recalled sadly.

“I was made a scapegoat by the government. The police wanted to solve the Sikh massacre and prove their point but they ruined my life. What if they have exonerated me now, I can never lead normal life again,” he laments.

Things are hardly any better for his family. The police raided his residence in Chittisinghpora half-a-dozen times since his arrest and even took away all his academic certificates and other important personal documents. “They (the government) publicised me as a killer so much that nobody from my family dares to walk alone. We are living with the stigma of killing our neighbours. How will I explain that I was innocent even if police let me go,” he asks again.

Meanwhile, after Justice Pandian put down the J-K government’s request to head the commission of inquiry to probe the Chittisinghpora massacre and the subsequent “fake encounter” at Panchalthan, the state government is waiting for a list of retired judges from Union Law Ministry to choose his replacement.

“I had rushed to Delhi to meet Justice Pandian immediately after ChiefMinister Farooq Abdullah announced the probe. but he did not show hiswillingness to accept our request,” said J-K Law Minister P.L. Handoo. “He is expecting another assignment which is more important,” he said.

Handoo said that the state government would have loved to have JusticeKrishna Iyer to head the Commission. “But he might not be availablebecause of old age,” he said.

He said the government is to choose a retired judge to lead the commission within next two or three days. “We are already discussing Justice Mukherjee, Justice Wadhwa and Justice Sageer Ahmad.”

Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah had announced a high-level judicial probeto investigate the Chittisinghpora massacre and the Panchalthan “fake encounter” after the Justice Pandian report on Brakpora firing incidentconnected the three incidents.