In Jammu, alleged Army torture leaves a remote village rattled

Until the evening of November 20, the people of Kishtwar’s remote Kwath village in Jammu region had very little reason to be afraid of the Army.

Almost every day, soldiers seek out local residents, most of whom are illiterate, for odd jobs – from doing paid labour to arranging food supplies.

But on November 20, four residents of the village were summoned to a nearby Army camp, where they were allegedly tortured.

The village residents fear that more punishment awaits them.

“There’s a rumour that the Army has a list of 40 people from this village,” said Dawood Ahmad, a worried resident of Kwath.

“We heard that this is just the beginning.”

A little over a year ago, three men were killed in Jammu’s Poonch district after they were allegedly picked up for interrogation and tortured to death by Army personnel – a day after a militant ambush had killed five soldiers.

The phone calls from an Army camp

In recent months, a series of militant attacks has kept Kishtwar district on the edge, and led to a crackdown by the Army.

On November 20, four residents from Kwath village got individual calls on their phones from the Army camp in Chas area.

“But when the four of them did not return by evening, some villagers went to the camp,” said Ghulam Mohammad, whose son-in-law was among the four detained and allegedly tortured.

Mohammad added: “The villagers saw one of the four men in an injured condition in the compound of the camp. He then called up other villagers, who arrived there. By then, around 5 pm, the Army had released all four and dropped them outside the camp.”

The four had been beaten up ruthlessly and were writhing in pain, according to several villagers who were there on the evening of November 20.

“Two of them vomited blood,” said Ahmad. The injured were identified as 40-year-old Mehraj Ud Din and three men in their 30s – Sajjad Hussain, Abdul Kabir and Mushtaq Ahmad.

After videos and reports about the assault on civilians by soldiers spread on social media, Indian Army’s Nagrota-based 16 Corps acknowledged the incident in a post on social media platform X.

The incident of the “alleged ill-treatment of civilians” had taken place during the conduct of an operation, the Army said in a statement a day later.

The operation had been launched on the basis of “specific intelligence” of the movement of a “group of terrorists” in the Kishtwar sector, the Army said.

“An investigation is being launched to ascertain the facts. Necessary follow-up action will be ensured,” the statement added.

However, villagers told Scroll that they were dissuaded from filing a police report and even attempts to get the injured medical treatment were initially thwarted by the Army.

Scroll has emailed a set of questions about the alleged torture to the defence spokesperson in Jammu. The story will be updated if they respond.

Stopped on way to hospital

Kwath is perched on a hill, and 5 km from a motorable road – over an hour’s uphill walk. The Army camp is atop another hill not far from the village.

That day, the villagers carried the injured on their backs from the Army camp. When the injured reached their homes, the extent of the assault became visible.

“All of the men had been beaten on their legs and backs,” said Dawood Ahmad. “Their backs and buttocks were swollen red. One of them had been hit on the head and the other complained of broken ribs.”

The men were not even able to lie down on their charpoys, Dawood Ahmad added. That very night, the villagers carried the men on their shoulders again and walked downhill to the Void village, where “eight vehicles were ready to take them to a hospital in Kishtwar town”.

At the time, several attempts were made to convince the villagers to not raise a hue and cry about the torture of civilians, they told Scroll.

“We got calls from the major of the camp asking us to dissuade [the injured] from taking any action against the Army,” said another local resident in Kwath.

A similar attempt was made by two village defence guards of the Void village.

Village defence guards or VDGs are armed civilians, who have been provided weapons, training and remuneration by the government to fight militancy in their villages.

“Once we reached Void to put the injured in the vehicles, two VDGs came to us and asked us not to take any action against the Army unit,” said Bashir Ahmad, a former panch of the Khwat village. “They said it will be an oppression on them [Army] if we file a case against them.”

Ahmad added: “The village defence guards also said that if we take any action against the Army, it will not be good for our mutual brotherhood.” Both the guards were from the Hindu community.

The villagers, however, disregarded the advice and headed to the hospital in Kishtwar town.

On their way, the injured were again stopped by the police and the Army. “We were stopped twice,” said Mohd Ramzan, father of Mushtaq Ahmad, one of the four among the assaulted. “We had informed our local MLA about the incident, who had informed the police. The police party met us on our way to Kishtwar and they insisted we take the injured to Chatroo [the police station under whose jurisdiction the village falls]. But we did not agree.”

As they proceeded towards Kishtwar town, the entourage was allegedly blocked near the Bandarkoot Army camp around 10 PM. “Dozens of soldiers barricaded the entire road and did not allow our vehicles to pass,” recalled Dawood Ahmad. “They asked us to wait till their senior officers arrive. All this while the injured continued to suffer in pain.”

The compromise

When the Army did not allow the vehicles to pass, the villagers tried to again carry the injured and walk towards Kishtwar. “In the meantime, senior Army officers, including the brigadier, arrived and apologised to us,” recalled Mohd Ramzan.

“He said a grave injustice had been done to the people and this would never happen again. He also assured us that the injured will be treated at the Army hospital in Bandarkoot camp only.”

Scroll could not meet any of the four injured civilians as they are currently being treated in Army custody.

According to Ramzan, the Army also paid Rs 25,000 each to every injured person’s family and promised to take care of their ration and supplies for three months. “We don’t know when or if they will be able to work again the way they used to,” he added.

The police have not filed any first information report in the incident owing to the “understanding” reached between the villagers and the Army. “The Army’s senior officials gave us a strong assurance that this incident will not be repeated and no one else from the village will be summoned to the camp again,” said Dawood Ahmad, who was among those who held deliberations with senior Army officials. “So we decided to not go ahead with a formal complaint.”

So far, the Lieutenant Governor administration led by Manoj Sinha and the elected government headed by chief minister Omar Abdullah have not announced any compensation for the injured.

Abdullah, whose government has no control over the police and public order in the union territory, however, has demanded a transparent investigation into the incident. “I hope the Army will not show any laxity and conduct an investigation in a transparent manner. Those responsible should immediately face court martial. If there is evidence against them, they should be punished,” Abdullah said on Friday.

A security challenge

The alleged torture of civilians in Kishtwar district follows a series of escalating militant attacks in recent months.

Most recently, on November 7, militants abducted and killed two village defence guards in the forests of Ohli Kuntwara.

The questioning of the four civilians in Kwath village was also related to an anti-militancy operation in the region, the Army said in its statement on November 21.

“The four men were asked if they had seen any militants in the area or provided them with any logistics,” recalled Dawood Ahmad, who was among the many villagers who spoke to the injured while rescuing them and taking them to the hospital. “They were also told that militants had offered Friday prayers at the village mosque. But none of us know anything about it.”

A senior police official in Chenab region, who asked not to be identified, underlined the ongoing security challenges in the Kishtwar district.

“Since the last two-three months, we have seen many terrorist-related incidents in Kishtwar,” he said. “This is the largest district of the union territory and its terrain is one of the most difficult, with few roads in remote areas. Therefore the challenge is significant.”

The security forces have not achieved any major success in the district so far, but officials said they are trying to weaken the support network of militants.

Earlier this month, five local residents in Kishtwar with past records of association with militancy were booked under the preventive detention law, the Public Safety Act.

“The fact is that there are only three active militants in Kishtwar who are local residents,” the officer said. “Then, we have at least two groups of foreign terrorists. It essentially means that some kind of support system in the form of overground workers is available to them. That’s why, anyone who has had past antecedents of having been affiliated with the militancy is on our radar,” the officer explained.

But the senior police official criticised the excesses in Kwath village.

“Nothing justifies the torture of the civilians,” he added. “It looks like due procedure in questioning suspects was not followed, and those involved did not have the expertise to deal with a suspect.”

Political design?

In Kwath village, however, several residents suspected a political design in the alleged torture.

Villagers told Scroll that the village had overwhelmingly voted for the National Conference in the recently held Assembly elections – and they feared they were being punished for that.

The village is part of the Inderwal seat, which was won by National Conference rebel Payare Lal Sharma, who contested the election as an independent. After he won the election, Sharma rejoined the National Conference.

“Ever since the incident, we have been hearing from different sides that this is the result of voting for the National Conference,” said Bashir Ahmad, the ex-panch of the village. “That means someone in the opposition is behind all this.”

At the centre of the concern in the village at present are the rumours of a “list of 40 people” with the Army. “It means someone is deliberately targeting our village,” alleged Ghulam Rasool, another resident.

While the incident has rattled the sleepy village, it has an unambiguous message for the Army. “If anyone has committed any mistake from our village, book them, investigate and punish them if they are guilty,” said Dawood Ahmad. “But nobody should be tortured.”

All photographs by Safwat Zargar.