New Delhi: Days after a 25-year-old youth accused of involvement in militancy allegedly died by suicide in the Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, PDP leader Iltaja Mufti went to his residence on Sunday, where she extended condolences and also sought to comfort the grieving family.
Iltaja Mufti’s visit to the family may have offered comfort and solace to the family but this itself has come under a cloud as she stated on record, just a day ago, that she was put under house arrest along with her mother Mehbooba Mufti.
The PDP leader is being asked pointed questions about her “house arrest” claims and also for alleged attempts to milk the family’s tragedy for political mileage.
On February 8, Iltaza Mufti shared pictures of the locked gates of her house on X and posted, “My mother and I both have been placed under house arrest. Our gates have been locked up because she was meant to visit Sopore where Waseem Mir was shot dead by the army. I intended to visit Kathua today to meet Makhan Din’s family today and am not being allowed to even move out. Nothing has changed in Kashmir even after the elections. Now even comforting the families of victims is being criminalised.”
Today, her mother and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti shared a video of Itlaza meeting the bereaved family of Kathua youth, whom she claimed, was driven to suicide because of police torture.
She also slammed the Omar Abdullah government for “shirking responsibility” over the death of Kathua youth and for not addressing the pain of grieving family.
According to police, Makhan Din killed himself at his residence by consuming insecticide on Tuesday evening. After the allegations of torture in police custody surfaced, the authorities ordered enquiries into the death of Gujjar youth.
Family members claimed that Din and his 65-year-old father were taken by the police team from their home in Perody village, near Billawar and were subjected to torture.
Police have denied the allegations of torture.–(IANS)
