Mehbooba Mufti Claims Sajad Lone, Shah Faesal Manhandled, J-K Police Denies Claims

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday alleged that the state police manhandled police ‘roughed up’ People’s Conference leader Sajad Lone, Peoples Democratic Party leader Waheed Para and bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal. "SKICC detainees shifted to MLA hostel, Srinagar today. Police manhandled them and roughed up Sajad Lone, Waheed Para and Shah Faesal. Is this how you treat elected representatives? Why humiliate them? J&K is under martial law and police seems to be inebriated with power," Mehbooba Mufti tweeted.

However, the Jammu and Kashmir police has refuted these claims and said the detained had only been subject to routine frisking before they were shifted.

"Apropos some twitter handle claiming manhandling of some people at MLA hostel Srinagar, it is hereby clarified that no such incident has taken place. Mandatory security drills were followed as required for lodgement," senior J&K cop Imtiyaz Hussain tweeted.

As Srinagar reeled under harsh winter conditions, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday shifted all 34 political prisoners, lodged at Centaur Hotel since August 5, to the MLA Hostel as the facility lacked proper heating arrangements, officials said.

The winter chill took a toll on the health of the detenues -- National Conference, PDP and People's Conference leaders and prominent social activists -- and the security personnel guarding them, they said.

They were lodged at the hotel on the bank of the scenic Dal Lake on August 5 when the central government announced its decision to abrogate Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and split the state into two Union territories.

Kashmir Valley, including Srinagar City, was reeling under winter chill and witnessed the season's first snowfall earlier this month. The seat of administration in the newly created Union territory has moved from Srinagar to Jammu for the winter months.

The administration carried out required modification of rooms in the MLA Hostel on Maulana Azad Road in the heart of the city to accommodate the political prisoners. It has been declared as a subsidiary jail by an order of the J-K home department.

With PTI Inputs