Srinagar: Jammu Kashmir High Court Bar Association Srinagar on Wednesday termed the grant of 30 days judicial custody and shifting of Asiya Andrabi, Nahida Nasreen and Fahmeeda Sofi to Mandaveli Jail, as ‘unwarranted’ and ‘unjustified’.

They have been taken from Central Jail Srinagar, where they were lodged in Judicial Custody, under the orders of a competent court at Anantnag, to Delhi and produced before NIA Court.

The court first handed them over to NIA custody and thereafter to judicial custody, without considering the circumstances under which been brought to Delhi and were no more needed to be detained in the police custody, statement said.

“The court ought to have taken the aforesaid aspects of the matter into account more particularly the one that the three were ladies and under the Code of Criminal Procedure were entitled to bail as a matter of right as such should have been released on bail or else shifted back to Central Jail, Srinagar, where they were previously lodged under a proper court order,” reads the statement.

Bar also condemned the death of 70 year old pro-freedom leader Noor Khan, who died in custody on Tuesday, and demanded an enquiry to ascertain the circumstances under which he was died.

Ghulam Hassan Malik alias Noor Khan died a day after he was shifted to Hospital from Kotebalwal Jail, where he was lodged on January 17 this year in pursuance of an order of detention passed against him by District Magistrate.

Bar demanded that an enquiry should be held in the matter to ascertain as to how and under what circumstances the death of deceased took place in the hospital and as to whether the provisions of Detenue General Order 1968, were observed by the jail authorities in the case or not, the Bar said in a statement.

The Bar Association maintained that when a detenue falls ill in jail, he has to be removed to the nearest hospital immediately, having the necessary facilities and equipment.

It said that he must be detained there in custody until the termination of treatment and the Superintendent of the Jail has to send the information to the Government as well as to the Controller of Prisons, who is also duty bound to keep the Government promptly informed about the progress of the detenue.

It said that in case it is not so done, then the guilty are to be prosecuted for medical negligence resulting in the death of the prisoner and punished according to law.

The Bar Association also condemned the barging into the houses and assaulting the people and damaging their property without any provocation by the army soldiers on Tuesday night at Mashward village of Shopian District.

“They have approached the police and have urged for the lodging of an FIR against the soldiers, who according to them are habitual of barging into the houses and terrorizing people,” statement read.

“The army personals also damaged cars and bikes in the village and even the headman of the village was not spared”.