Jammu: Activist Talib Hussain, who was at the forefront of protests against
the Kathua rape and murder and was arrested recently over rape charges
has been injured in custody.
Supreme Court advocate Indira Jaising on Monday said that Hussain, a key
witness in the Kathua rape and murder, was tortured in police custody.
She tweeted, “Hussain – who was arrested last week – has been tortured in
Samba police station while on police remand, skull broken, rushed to
hospital in Samba.”
Jaising called it “unacceptable in a democracy.” She had also petitioned the
Supreme Court to transfer the case out of Kathua.
However, police has refuted the accusations. Director General of Police
Shesh Paul Vaid was quoted by Scroll.in saying that Hussain hit himself on
the head “out of frustration”. He told them that Hussain had only sustained
scratches and was taken back to the Samba Police station.
Later, in another tweet Jaising wrote that Hussain was sent back to the same
police station in Samba where he was assaulted.
“Samba hospital did not allow Talib’s relatives to meet him there. Relatives
saw him at the police station. Head was bandaged, bleeding,” she tweeted.
Hussain is a social activist who led protest demonstrations demanding
justice for the family of the eight-year-old girl, Asifa, who was raped and
murdered in Kathua district last January.
