After meeting chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday, the journalist and writer David Devadas told this newspaper, “I’m not looking for revenge.”
All he wanted is that there should be a system of justice working in the state. “That may be idealistic, but that is what one aspires for,” he added. In a
letter to the CM, Mr Devdas has accused the police of abusing and badly beating him up after a mix-up at peak traffic hour on September 5.
In a letter to the Chief Justice of India, Mr Devdas narrated his first hand experience at the hands of the J&K police and spoke of “attempts to fabricate the sequence of events that led to my being bodily battered”. He also wrote, “I now fear for my life.’’
The chief minister has asked him to remain in Kashmir and continue his work. “He said he was sorry about what had happened to me and assured me that action would be taken against the erring police personnel.”
The chief minister could not respond to the journalist’s letter promptly as he was away in Kargil when the letter arrived in his office, an aide to the CM said
Mr Abdullah told Mr Devadas that the judge’s convoy which had caused him to be thus treated had been involved in such incidents in the past too. “I cannot take away his security,” the chief minister said, “since he is entitled to it”. However, the journalist was assured that action would be taken against the station house officer and others involved.
“In response, I strongly made the point that I do not see it just as an individual issue involving me alone. I am concerned that such a pattern of behaviour with citizens by and large could lead to further alienation, instability and militancy,” Mr Devadas said.
However, the chief minister was of the view that militancy was not an issue any more. “He said that it was on the wane and that infiltration has become much tougher than before…that stone-pelting had been common before militancy came up, and that pattern had now returned.” Mr Devadas told the chief minister that on the basis of his research he feared that militancy might return if high-handed, corrupt and brutal treatment of citizens continues.