Srinagar, Mar 1: A day after an Islamabad (Anantnag) family alleged that their minor son was detained under the Public Safety Act and kept under detention with hard core criminals at Kotbilwal Jail Jammu, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the best way to determine his age was to conduct a medical test.
 The family of the 14-year old said they were ready for conducting the medical test.
 Police said they would re-verify the ages of the youth whose family members complain that their relatives were minors and booked under PSA.
 On Tuesday, Greater Kashmir reported that 14-year-old Faizan Rafiq Hakeem, a resident of south Kashmir’s Islamabad (Anantnag) town has been detained under the PSA, which provides for detention of a person for up to two years without trial.
 Reacting to Faizan’s detention, the Chief Minister wrote on social networking site Twitter that the “best way to settle any doubts is

to order a medical examination to certify the age. I’ve seen too many fake certificates."
 The family of Faizan on Monday produced a birth certificate which clearly shows the boy was minor as his age was 14 years and nine months. The certificate issued by Principal Islamia Hanfia College, Islamabad, reads the date of birth of the victim as 18-05-1996.
 Before being slapped with PSA, the 14-year old was charged with almost a dozen sections, including attempt to murder, for his alleged offences in two different cases of law and order in the town. The family said their son was arrested on Feb 24 before he was bundled to Kotbilwal Jail Jammu.
 Faizan’s father Muhammad Rafiq, a vegetable vendor, said the government should immediately conduct the medical test of his son to determine his age.
 “If his date of birth quoted by me and the school is proven to be wrong, then I give Chief Minister Omar Abdullah full authority to hang me with my family in the public,” Rafiq said. “Faizan is 14 years old.”
 He said the family pleaded before the police that he was minor and innocent. “I told police that entire Kashmir was on the roads during the summer protests of 2010. That thousands of people were protesting. I told them may be he also participated. But he does not deserve to be punished under harsh laws like PSA and attempt to murder. After all he is a child,” Rafiq said.
 The father who was talking in broken voice on phone said the police also went to Faizan’s school and confiscated records. “They told the school authorities whether he was reading there since he was a child. They took his records and went away,” he said.
 However the police maintain that Faizan is not a minor.
 Reacting to the Greater Kashmir report, the spokesman of Director General of Police said inquiries conducted in this regard reveal that Faizan was involved in various “anti-national and anti-social activities.”
 The spokesman said Faizan’s parents said nothing about he being a minor in the bail application in the Hon'ble Sessions Court, Islamabad (Anantnag). “The subject had also remained in police custody as well as in judicial custody in case FIR No. 194 of 2010 wherein parents of the subject had preferred an application of bail before Chief Judicial Magistrate Anantnag and in the said application too nothing was revealed regarding his being minor,” the spokesman said.
 The spokesman said the accused was produced before Judicial Magistrate as well as CJM Anantnag in above mentioned cases and while granting remand neither the Hon'ble Magistrates noticed that the subject was minor nor the counsel for the accused raised this issue.
 The spokesman said Faizan was the main “trouble creator” and was involved in various cases. “The matter of age of the subject as minor is the second thought story and the date of birth certificate from Islamia Hanfia College, Anantnag, showing his date of birth as 18-05-1996 seems to be managed affair which is being probed into through Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police,” he said.
 The Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, SM Sahai said they would re-verify the ages of persons whose families are complaining that their wards were minors. 
 “We would again verify the ages in some cases,” IG said. “We have already ascertained the ages and found most of them are above 18.”
 He said all the arrested persons who have been booked under PSA have been involved in creating law and order problem in the valley.
 “We have seen certificates produced by families are often fake,” Sahai said. “But we would verify now that whether a particular person is a juvenile or not.”
 SHO Saddar Police station, Islamabad (Anantnag), Liaqat Khan said Faizan “apparently looks 20 year old.”
 “His family also never claimed that he was a minor when he was under lock-up,” Khan said. “Or they should have proven it in the court of law.”

Lastupdate on : Tue, 1 Mar 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 1 Mar 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 2 Mar 2011 00:00:00 IST