Tension in Srinagar as youth shot, new videos of abuse by soldiers surface

While a boy is being beaten up mercilessly by four men dressed in Indian army fatigues in one video, in another, 3 youth are made to shout antiPak slogans

Security personnel allegedly shot dead a youth in Srinagar on Saturday, triggering fresh protests on a day video clips showing alleged human rights violations did the rounds. In one video, a boy is seen being beaten up by four men dressed in army fatigues, in another three are being made to shout “Pakistan murdabad”.

Two fresh videos of alleged excesses by security forces emerged in Kashmir on Saturday and were shared widely on social media, furthering the war of amateur videos that has gripped the Valley for the past few days.

In one of the videos, a young boy is seen as being laid on the road and beaten mercilessly with sticks by four men dressed in Indian army fatigues, even as the boy screams his lungs out.

In the other video, three Kashmiri youth are made to shout “Pakistan murdabad” (Down with Pakistan) by a man dressed as a security person, who is only partially visible in the video at the corner of the frame.

Multiple social media accounts claimed that the videos were from Saturday’s violence in south Kashmir’s Pulwama.

However, others claimed it was from the violence last Sunday, the day of Srinagar bypolls in which eight people were killed.

Police refuted that the videos are from Pulwama.

HT spoke to multiple sources in the security establishment and many local residents, but there seemed to be no consensus about the location or the time of recording of these videos.

Srinagar-based army spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said the veracity of the videos was being ascertained.

“Action will be taken against those found guilty of misconduct,” he added.

A CRPF spokesperson told HT that the personnel beating up the young man “are not from the CRPF”. He added, “In the second video, the man is only half visible, so we are unable to confirm anything about him.”

He also added that the location where the video was shot could not be verified yet.

In a press statement, a police spokesperson said the “video being shared on social networking groups is not from Pulwama”.

The statement added that there were no raids conducted in Pulwama on Saturday but acknowledged heavy stone pelting occurred near Degree College Pulwama.

A series of disturbing videos have come up in the past few days in Kashmir.

First, a video clip showed some CRPF personnel being roughed up and abused by a mob in Kashmir. Then came two videos: one showing a young Kashmiri man tied to an army jeep as a human shield against stone-pelters by the army, and the other showing security forces opening fire allegedly on a group of children pelting stones.

Meanwhile, National Conference spokesperson Junaid Mattu tweeted the video of the boy being beaten up and wrote: “What particular part of the SOP and Army Code allows this? Corporal punishment to a civilian! Does AFSPA allow this @MehboobaMufti??”