Srinagar, Oct 13: At a time when six persons have already died in thrashing by troops and police in the ongoing unrest in the Valley, 55-year-old Ghulam Nabi Mir of Namlabal Pampore is another such victim battling for life in SKIMS here.
 A senior doctor at SKIMS said Mir was suffering from multiple injuries and his chances of survival were bleak.
 “His score is 3 out of 15, which is very critical. He has been hit on head and has lost his eyesight,” the doctor said.
 On October 7, Ghulam Nabi was hit on head by gun butts and beaten to pulp outside his house by a joint party of police and paramilitary CRPF.
 Torture and thrashing of people by police and paramilitary CRPF is proving deadly in the current unrest in Kashmir. The youngest victim of CRPF beating was the 9-year old Sameer Ahmad Rah of Batamaloo. He died on the spot.
 Lying in Bed No. 3 of Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Mir is suffering from cardiac failure and other multiple internal injuries. “He has been put on ventilator. He is suffering from multiple organ failure,” the doctor said.
 Eyewitnesses said Mir, a Handloom Department employee, was out to bring fruits for his children on the fateful day.
 “In the morning of Oct 7, the locals went to police station and informed the SHO that police was harassing the local people,” Mir’s relative said.
 In response to the complaint, a joint party of angry police and CRPF men came in the evening and started beating people ruthlessly, locals alleged. “The young escaped the beating but the oldies were caught hold of,” they said.
 Mir was later taken to SHMS hospital, where from he was referred to SKIMS, Soura. A relative of Mir in SKIMS said, “Yesterday, Mir screamed unconsciously in the ward. He was requesting forces that he is ill and has five children. ‘Please leave me’, he cried and went into comma,” he said.
 Mir is not the only aged person who was beaten ruthlessly. There are five more such victims. One among them is Abdul Ahad Gilkar. Gilkar is a retired teacher and received a fracture in his left arm.
 Local said the thrashing was unprovoked as there was no stone pelting or any protest in the area.
 Mir is the loan bread earner of the family. He has four unmarried daughters and a son with mental illness. His family alleged that they lodged an FIR in Pampore Police Station, but to no avail.
 The first victim of forces beating during the ongoing unrest was Rafiq Ahmed Bangroo. He was severely beaten by CRPF troopers in June. After battling for life for a week, Bangroo breathed his last at SKIMS. He had received multiple injuries in head and other body parts.
 Seventeen-year old Omar Qayoom Bhat was another case of fatal torture. Omar was allegedly tortured in police custody. Qayoom’s lungs were severely damaged due to blunt trauma. Seventeen-year old Muzaffer Ahmed Bhat of Gangbugh Batamaloo was beaten to death by CRPF troopers and his body thrown in a stream on July 5. Medicos, who performed his autopsy, revealed that he had injury marks in the head.
 Another victim, Syed Farakh Bukhari, was allegedly killed in police custody after being arrested at Choora Sangrama on July 28 for participating in protests. His body was recovered a fortnight later with multiple torture marks.
 Scores of youth have also been wounded due to custodial torture across the valley.
 Doctors who treated trauma patients in city hospitals said that they have come across shocking cases of torture.
 “We have seen many cases where vital parts of the body have been damaged without firearm injuries,” said a SKIMS doctor.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Oct 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:00:00 IST