Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Jan 3: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today wrote to the Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking his intervention in a case of a teenager from Srinagar currently in NIA custody.
Click here to watch video
“I am writing to you regarding the arrest of a nineteen-year-old student from Srinagar. Arsalan Feroz was first detained by J&K police on 21st October. After forty days he was subsequently released since nothing was found against him,” she wrote in the letter.
She said that to date there has been no FIR or case registered against this young boy in any police record.
“Oddly enough according to NIA, Arsalan who recently couldn’t take his twelfth-grade exam owing to his detention has been accused of being a TRF operative indulging in radicalisation & motivating youth to join the ranks of militant organisations,” Mehbooba wrote.
She said that it’s an utter tragedy that a young boy has been arrested despite “no previous adverse police records.”
“Arsalan comes from a modest background wherein they are already struggling to make ends meet. You can well imagine the mental anguish & suffering his arrest has brought upon them,” she wrote.
Addressing the Home Minister, Mehbooba said reminded Shah that in his last trip to Kashmir “you spoke emphatically about engaging with the youth here. Despite our political differences, I am sure we can agree that such incidents will only alienate our young generation further & leave them with permanent scars & a sense of despondency for a long time. I request you to personally intervene in this case & ensure that justice is served,” she wrote.
Earlier, Mehbooba while talking to the reporters during the party’s event, Mehbooba said that she doesn’t know why NIA arrested him, even if the family handed him over to the agency. “NIA is claiming that he is TRF operative, but the family says otherwise,” she said.
“There is no FIR lodged against Arsalan in the past or present. I will write to Home Minister to ensure his release as his family is in trauma,” she said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel