[Reader-list] stonepelting sisters

[Junaid]

The (real) tiger ladies: Saidpora’s seven sisters
The youngest of their siblings has been booked under PSA for
stone-pelting. The Sheikh family says the teenager was just a bus
conductor earning a livelihood.

Dilnaz Boga

http://kashmirmonitor.org/details.aspx?ID=732

Srinagar: Losing a sibling can have a devastating effect on the
family. But that didn’t stop 13-year-old Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh’s seven
sisters from coming out on the streets of Srinagar and stopping
traffic. In a society that is grappling with the paralysing effects of
militarisation, and where women’s issues take a backseat, these seven
sisters and their mother have taken matters into their hands to spread
awareness about the injustice that their teenage family member is
undergoing in Udhampur jail.

Tucked away in their house in the narrow by-lanes of Nowhatta, the
Sheikh family resides in a small room that can barely accommodate two
people. Unable to hide their poverty and despair, Mushtaq’s father
Gulam Mohi-ud-din Sheikh breaks down talking about his only son.
“I earn 600 rupees a month, and he used to earn between Rs 100 and Rs
150 a day. Somehow we managed to run the house. How can he go
stone-pelting when he is busy working all day and bring us money every
evening,” he asks, baffled.

The teenager has been booked under the draconian Public Safety Act
(PSA) and six other Sections of the RPC. His FIR no at the Nowhatta
police station is 27/2010. A charge under PSA entails imprisonment for
up to two years without a trial.
On paper, the law states that the detention for minors should be
corrective, not punitive. But in practice, in Kashmir it is exactly
the opposite, complained a human rights lawyer. Lawyers in the state
have consistently challenged specific PSA cases in the courts securing
quashing orders, but the State has blatantly disregarded the court
orders denying bail to the accused.

Said Kausar, Mushtaq’s second sister who is married: “This is not the
first time they (police) picked him up. They have been picking him up
and releasing him practically every other week since the Amarnath
unrest.”
Sitting in the small room where Mushtaq was picked up from at 6.30 am
on April 21, 2010, it is hard not to notice a dozen plastic bags
suspended from the ceiling for want of space. Abject poverty has not
been able to dampen the family’s drive to fight for the jailed
teenager. Every day, the seven sisters, along with their mother, take
to the city streets chanting slogans to free their brother, stopping
motorists and making their plight known. They also throw stones at the
vehicles carrying CRPF soldiers that pass by.

“It was my mother’s idea to protest, said Shafiqa, Mushtaq’s
16-year-old sister. “We don’t do any damage when we protest. That is
not our intention. Others won’t come out to protest with us for him as
we are poor. If a rich boy is picked up, everyone will go and protest
for him. They don’t even realise our pain. But still we won’t bow our
heads. What can we do? We are surrounded by mukhbirs (informers),” she
said.

Out of the 12 boys picked up by the police when Mushtaq was arrested,
11 were released, said another sister Arooj. “Why wasn’t my brother
let go? Why was he slapped with PSA? The whole world was pelting
stones during the Shrine controversy. Why are they are not behind
bars?” she asked.
The police report, a copy of which is in possession of the Kashmir
Monitor, states that Mushtaq was leading a mob of stone-pelters near
Islamia College of Science and Commerce in Hawal.

“I am not the only one amazed at the grit and anger which the girls of
the family betray,” their father Mohi-ud-din admitted. “My wife is
from a village. She doesn’t even know where Lal Chowk is. But now we
have no choice but to protest. My boy is so quiet. He shivers when he
witnesses a fight. He did not even tell us that he got beat up in the
lock-up.”

Shahzada Banu (35), Mushtaq’s mother laments about her husband’s
plight, and her son’s innocence. “He has sustained bullet injuries
during a roadside attack. He used to work as a labourer but had to
give it up as he suffers from hernia. Mushtaq realized this and used
to work diligently. Even people used to tell us that he was good at
work,” she said. “They used to see him in Soura. How can he go
stone-pelting if he’s at work?”

The family is in the dark about the legal proceedings of this case.
They are unaware even of their legal representative’s name. Legal
experts maintain that PSA (1978) was amended in 1990 which made it
possible for the state machinery to keep detainees in the jails of
India, outside the state – making it even more difficult for
defendants to fight their legal battles with the state.