Justice Denied?

Sarfraz says 
his father was 
killed by 
the Army 
while he was 
engaged in 
forced labour 

Son seeks fresh probe into father’s death 


Ashutosh Sharma                                                    Tribune News Service
Jammu, July 22
A resident of Islamabad village in Haveli tehsil of district Poonch, Sarfraz Khan has sought re-investigation into the death of his father, who had died while working for the Army.
Sarfraz says, “The death of my father affected the family irrevocably.” He rues that in spite of recommendations by the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), his family has not got ex-gratia relief or any other help from the government.


His father, Mohammad Sarwar Khan Rathore, died on August 19, 1999. “The police safeguarded the accused Armymen during investigation portraying the death as accidental. But those present on the spot, who are still alive, say that he was killed. I appeal to the authorities to order a fresh probe in the case.”


“My father was on way to Poonch from Pelara village. When the bus he was travelling in reached Arai Nallah, some officers of RR forcibly evicted him from the bus along with some other passengers and ordered to carry ammunition boxes to Gun Point (an Army post),” claimed Sarfraz adding, 


“When my father refused, the infuriated Armymen compelled him to lift two boxes of ammunition instead of one. After walking some distance, my father dropped the boxes as he was not able to walk with the load.”


“Following this, an Armyman bludgeoned his head with the butt of rifle, killing him on the spot,” he alleged.


“My father was a dignified man. He had never done any physical work at home,” he said and added, “My father even asked the Armymen to take money from him to engage some labourer for the same work and let him go. But they were adamant.”


The police in its rejoinder to the SHRC said Sarwar died of head injury while serving the Army. 


“Army officers of RR stopped the bus and requested the passengers that if anybody was willing to serve the nation by helping the Army in carrying ammunition/luggage to Gun Point. On this, some male passengers, including Mohammad Sarwar, picked up ammunition box willingly and followed other persons,” the police told the commission. 


“Unfortunately, after walking a few feet, he lost his balance due to which the box he was carrying, injured posterior of his head causing death on the spot,” the police said.


The commission in its judgment in June 2008 upheld the police version and maintained that he died while serving the Army. But it recommended that the next of the kin of the deceased be given a relief of Rs 1 lakh, besides a government job on compassionate grounds. 


“We have not got any kind of relief so far,” Sarfraz said and added, “I had to leave the school soon after my father’s death. One of my sisters, Shahyaza Banoo is suffering from paralysis of both legs whereas another sister, Saydha Banoo has lost her mental balance.”