The Jammu and Kashmir government will not compensate Farooq Ahmad Dar, the man the Indian Army had used as a human shield during the bye-election in Srinagar in April.
In a reply to the State Human Rights Commission, the Mehbooba Mufti government said it had rejected the panel’s recommendation that the state should give Dar Rs 10 lakh as compensation for the incident. The government said Dar had made “no allegations of human rights violation” against the state or any of its functionaries.
In April, a video showed Dar tied to an Army jeep with a note pinned to his chest that read, “This will be the fate of stone-pelters.” He was returning after casting his vote in his village, Chill, when the Army picked him up, a police complaint said.
Deputy Home Secretary Mushtaq Ahmad said there was no scheme or policy in the state to cover compensation in such cases. In his letter, he said the case was not under the human rights panel’s jurisdiction as it involved the Army.
Dar told the Greater Kashmir on Monday that he had not “fully come to terms” with the government’s decision yet. He said he was a victim of “social stigma” since the incident. “Making ends meet is a challenge for me,” he was quoted as saying.
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