Imprisoned Resistance: 5th August and its aftermath October 2019 Cover Design: Musthujab Makkolath Layout: Printers: Suggeted Contribution: Rs. 100 For Private Circulation Only Printed copies could be obtained from: Bengaluru: Mumbai: New Delhi: 1 Imprisoned Resistance 5th August and its aftermath Table of Contents Summary.....................................................................................................5 1. Our mandate...........................................................................................10 2. History of broken promises........................................................................13 2.1 India approaches United Nations Security Council (UNSC)........................15 2.2 Formation of the Constituent Assembly and the framing of the J&K Constitution.............................................................................................15 2.3 Continued occupation and militarisation of Kashmir by the Indian state......18 2.4 UN on Human Rights Violations in Kashmir.............................................19 2.5 Abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019...............................................20 2.6 Week preceding the abrogation: Creating a paranoia...............................21 3. The new normal in Kashmir.......................................................................25 3.1 Restricted mobility..............................................................................25 3.2 Communication Blockade.....................................................................26 3.3 Government Services Discontinued........................................................28 3.4 Disruption of livelihood and commerce...................................................30 3.5 More of the normal..............................................................................33 3.6 The People’s Hartal in the face of the siege.............................................35 4. State Oppression......................................................................................40 4.1 Massive militarization..........................................................................40 4.2 Night raids as a mode of collective punishment.......................................44 4.3 Destruction of property as a mode of terrorising......................................46 4.4 Arbitrary arrests and illegal detention....................................................48 4.5 Community bonds as another form of collective punishment.....................50 4.6 In-lieu arrests....................................................................................51 4.7 Deaths..............................................................................................53 4.8 Pellet gun injuries...............................................................................58 4.9 Torture..............................................................................................60 4.10 Forced Labour...................................................................................63 4.11 Religious freedom trampled on............................................................63 5. Violations of the Law................................................................................65 5.1 On Arrests.........................................................................................65 5.2 Arrest and detention of juveniles...........................................................66 5.3 Proceedings under section 107/151.......................................................68 5.4 Detentions under the J&K Public Safety Act, 1978...................................70 5.5 Casual invoking of J&K Public Safety Act, 1978.......................................73 2 5.6 Transfer to other states.......................................................................75 5.7 PSA against lawyers............................................................................77 6. Access to Justice......................................................................................79 6.1 Our unwelcome presence.....................................................................79 6.2 High Court.........................................................................................80 6.3 District Courts....................................................................................83 6.4 TADA/UAPA Court...............................................................................84 6.5 J&K State Human Rights Commission (SHRC).........................................85 6.5.1 SHRC order dated March 26, 2018 on Enforced disappearances..........86 6.5.2 SHRC order dated October 26, 2017 on Unmarked Graves:................86 6.5.3 SHRC orders in 2017 on loss of lives and injuries due to conflict:........87 6.5.4 SHRC orders in 2017 – 18 on forcible occupation of land by armed forces:................................................................................................87 6.6 Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) and Child Welfare Committee (CWC)..............88 6.7 Reprisals, surveillance and clampdown on advocates and their right to practice...................................................................................................89 6.8 Supreme Court of India.......................................................................91 6.8.1 Habeas Corpus petitions................................................................91 6.8.2 Petitions challenging communications lockdown................................93 6.8.3 Petition on violation of the rights of children.....................................96 6.8.4 Challenge to Article 370 abrogation and J&K Reorganisation Act:12.....96 6.8.5 Earlier petitions............................................................................98 7. Kashmir 2019 – A Mental Health Report....................................................100 8. Concluding Remarks...............................................................................102 8.1 The Will of the people of Kashmir........................................................103 8.2 The State of the law..........................................................................103 Annexures.................................................................................................106 Annexure 1: Abbreviations.......................................................................106 Annexure 2: Abrogation of Article 370: Myths and Realities..........................108 Annexure 3: Ambedkar, Patel and Gandhi on Kashmir.................................116 Annexure 4: UN on Kashmir – A summary of the dispute before UN Security Council..................................................................................................121 Annexure 5: Note on the Armed Forces (Jammu & Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990.....................................................................................................124 Annexure 6: Joint communication by the UN experts on Arbitrary Detention; Enforced/Involuntary Disappearances; Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions; Freedom of Opinion and Expression; Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association; and Human Rights Defenders........................................126 Annexure 7: The wages of conflict and the Courts.......................................135 Annexure 8: Brief summary of cases in the SHRC.......................................145 Annexure 9: Note on the development of jurisprudence around Article 370.....155 Annexure 10: Note on Federalism in the context of J&K...............................157 3 Some, who have closed their eyes, are wide awake. Some, who look out at the world, are fast asleep. Some who bathe in sacred pools remain dirty. Some are at home in the world but keep their hands clean. Lal Ded1 1“The Poems of Lal Ded translated by Ranjit Hoskote” http://poetry.sangamhouse.org/2013/08/the-poems-of-lal-ded- translated-by-ranjit-hoskote/ 4 Summary An eleven-member team comprising advocates, trade union and human activists and a psychiatrist visited the Kashmir Division from September 28 – October 4, 2019. The broad objective of the team was to understand the situation persisting in the two months since the abrogation of Article 370, and, second to assess the quality of access to justice in these compelling circumstances. The team comprised Aarti Mundkur (Advocate, Bengaluru), Amit Sen (Psychiatrist, New Delhi), Clifton D’ Rozario (Advocate and All India People’s Forum, Bengaluru), Gautam Mody (New Trade Union Initiative, New Delhi), Lara Jesani (Advocate, Mumbai and People’s Union for Civil Liberties), Mihir Desai (Senior Advocate, Mumbai and People’s Union for Civil Liberties), Nagari Babaiah (People’s Democratic Forum, Bengaluru), Ramdas Rao (All India People’s Forum, Bengaluru), Saranga Ugalmugle (Advocate, Mumbai/Goa), Swathi Seshadri (Independent Researcher, Bengaluru) and Veena Gowda (Advocate, Mumbai and People’s Union for Civil Liberties). The report is based on our visit to different districts in the Kashmir valley, our visits to the High Court, District Courts and other quasi judicial institutions, our interactions with the lawyers, health and mental health professionals, traders, people of Kashmirand victims of state perpetrated violence. Details of the same are covered in the report. Between August 5 and 6, 2019, two presidential orders, C.O. 272 and C.O. 273, were issued that had the effect of abrogating Article 370 and Article 35A, and effectively dismantled the limited protection afforded to Jammu and Kashmir in self-governance,