On June 23, outside the Jamia Masjid
in Srinagar, a mob bludgeoned Mohammed Ayub Pandith, a deputy superintendent (DSP) in the Jammu & Kashmir Police, to death
Minutes past midnight on June 23, the night of Shab-e-Qadr (pious night), a mob gathered outside the Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta, Srinagar. The target of its anger was a 57-year-old deputy superintendent of the Jammu & Kashmir police, Mohammed Ayub Pandith. On access control duty at the grand mosque, reports say Pandith was taking photos of worshippers leaving after prayers, which allegedly caused the mob to turn on him. When the mob grew violent, Pandith reportedly defended himself by opening fire with his service pistol. Eyewitnesses later told police that Pandith was identified as a policeman before he was surrounded, stripped and killed. His body was then dumped in a drain beside the mosque. This was the first lynching of a policeman by a civilian mob in the three decades of unrest in the Kashmir Valley, symptomatic of the intense anger that they feel against the police. State police are often called upon to quell the stone-pelting protests that have become the norm since 2008, when riots erupted over the decision to transfer land in the Valley to the Amarnath shrine board. Officers say that the continuing use of state police to subdue protesting mobs—causing thousands of youngsters to sustain bullet or pellet injuries—has resulted in a deep-seated resentment against the force. Five people have been arrested. Inspector general for Kashmir Muneer Khan tells india today that the SIT constituted to investigate the lynching is very close to cracking the case, a number of recoveries have been made and several suspects are being interrogated.
Five of the 12 suspects in custody are believed to be local youths