A protest march was held in Sumbal town of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Monday against the arrest of a local youth by the special cell of Delhi Police.
Hilal Ahmad Bhat of Wani Mohalla was arrested last week by the Delhi Police.
The family members of Bhat, members of traders’ federation and sumo drivers’ association Sumbal staged a protest at main chowk Sumbal and then marched through the town to demand his release.
Hilal’s sister Uzma said that a joint team of Army and local police on January 22 cordoned off their house and were looking for her brother but he was not at home.
“I called my brother that police and army were asking for him, he said he will come home and go to police station. My brother is innocent, had he been involved in anything kind of illegal activity he would not have come home,” she said.
She said when Hilal returned home they went to police station Sumbal along with their parents where they later came to know the police was preparing some documents to hand over Hilal to Delhi Police. “We were not even told the reason for his arrest. We handed over Hilal to DySP Sumbal and we are asking him to release Hilal,” she said.
Complete shutdown was observed in Sumbal against the arrest of Hilal.
A police official said that Hilal was arrested in case FIR No. 17/2019 at police station special cell Delhi.
“He was shifted to Delhi for further investigation into the case,” he said.