Valley’s dangerous nights trap mentally retarded

Four kilometres away in Sohipora, an old couple is still mourning the death of their mentally disabled son, Karim Gojri. “He was my son. See his photograph taken after his killing. They killed him and he was buriedin Kupwara. I came to know about it three days after his death,” sobs Karim’s 55-year-old mother Fazli.

Juma Gojri, her husband, sitting beside her in the thatched house, does not speak. He has gone into a shell. Six years ago, their daughter Fahmida, also mentally disabled, was killed in a crossfire between militants and the Army.

The spokesman of the Army’s 15 Corps headquarters in Srinagar, Major Bharat Shahane, however, said no villager identified the body when it was retrievedfrom the Halmatpora forests. He said during the night of August 29, two militants were trapped by the troops of 14 Rajput at Chack Halmatpora. “The next morning, villagers of Halmatpora spotted a body, besides arms and ammunition, at the site. The villagers later handed over the arms and ammunition to the unit,” he said. Maj. Shahane claimed that the Army has never killed any mentally retarded person.

Police have now closed the investigations into the Karim Gojri killing case. “We have closed the case after our investigations revealed that Gojri was mentally retarded and was innocent. We have declared that he was killed in crossfire, so that his next of kin may get the ex-gratia,” said SSP Kupwara J.P. Singh.

Karim Gojri is one of the many helpless victims in Valley’s decade of violence — one of the many mentally deranged who got killed. All these killings happened during the dead of night and there is an absolute restriction on all kinds of movement after 7pm. Unmindful of the restrictions, the mentally retarded roam around the streets and are often mistaken for militants. Villagers too don’t think that they are deliberatelykilled but what hurt them is the hurry to brand them as militants.

*A 26-year-old deaf and dumb, Ghulam Mohammad Rather, resident of Hanjipora, was killed on September 7, 1999 at Karihma village. Army lodged an FIR at Vilgam police station stating that the troops killed an unidentified militant at Karihama forests and recovered arms. However, headconstable Abdul Aziz, also a resident of Hanjipora, identified the body.

“We collected witnesses in Hanjipora and adjacent villages. I too had identified Rather,” said Abdul Aziz, investigative officer in the case.

For Rather’s brother Mohammad Shaban, the battle was just beginning. “It took me months together and a lot of efforts to prove my brother was not a militant. The local MLA also helped,” he says.

*Nazir Ahmad Tantray, resident of Palpora Magam was killed at Gofbal Trehgam, on March 31, 1998. The Army reported that it had killed an unidentified militant and recovered two grenades. The police, however, disagreed and lodged an FIR (25/98) that stated the deceased to be insane.

In all these cases, the relatives struggle to establish the fact that the dead were innocent civilians. Ghulam Ahmad Sheikh, father Mohammad RamzanSheikh, whose body was fished out from a river at Jagarpora on July 25, 1998, said they had to bribe a local police official to show his son was killed by “unidentified militants” to get the compensation.