A letter petition has been filed in the Supreme Court requesting the Chief Justice of India and other Judges of the Supreme Court to take cognizance of targeted killings of Hindus and Sikhs in Kashmir.
The letter petition is from Advocate Vineet Jindal, a practicing advocate at Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi seeking directions to the Union to provide adequate security to Hindu and Sikh minorities in Kashmir on an immediate basis. He has further prayed to establish a special delegated unit to structure and administer a system to ensure the safety and security to minority groups in Kashmir and to investigate the recent killing of Hindu and Sikh minorities by the National Security Agency.
The petition also seeks a grant of Rs 1 crore as compensation to the family of the Hindu and Sikh victims and a government job to a family member.
The letter petition states that the Constitution of India provides right of life under Article 21. Recently, some news is circulating regarding the targeted killing of Hindus and Sikh minorities in Kashmir. The recent incidents of killings in the Kashmir valley, especially targeted killing of the members of minority communities, has once again reminded one of the gory massacre of 36 Sikhs in Chittisinghpura village of Anantnag in 2000.
The letter states that in five days, seven civilians have been killed in Kashmir, including those from the Sikh and Hindu communities. The killings of pharmacist Makhan Lal Bindroo, Supinder Kaur, Sikh principal of Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Sangam Eidgah area of Srinagar district, and Deepak Chand, a Hindu teacher of the same school, has evoked a feeling of agony, fear and insecurity among Hindus and Sikhs residing in Kashmir.
The petition further quoted a news article, “A scared school teacher did not go to work. He says his school told him to stay away for a week because of the recent attacks on minorities Sikhs and Hindus.”
Many government employees who returned to the Valley after being given jobs under the Prime Minister’s special employment scheme for Kashmiri migrants have quietly left accommodations with the fear of losing their lives and for the sake of their families well-being.
“The Government of India initiated several schemes and provided opportunity to many minority migrants of Kashmir to resettle in their native place with the objective of providing a sense of belonging to these migrants. The declaration of J&K as a Union territory by the Government of India was done after the abolition of Article 370 with the intent of creating a harmonious and secure environment for the minority migrants of Jammu and Kashmir. But the recent heinous targeted killing of Hindu and Sikh minorities have again terrorized their spirits of being a part of Kashmir. It has dampened the spirit of these minorities and their generations of surviving freely in their own state by creating a fear psychosis in their minds,” states the petition.
It is further states, “Abiding by the said article the responsibility of securing the interest and safeguarding the lives and personal liberty of Hindu and Sikh minorities of Kashmir lies in the hands of the Indian Government.”
Read full petition here;
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