Indian authorities in occupied Kashmir have detained 144 minors, including a nine-year-old boy, since the government eliminated the special state of the region in August, according to a police list seen by AFP He showed on Tuesday.
Sixty of the minors are under 15 years old, according to the document presented to a committee appointed by the Supreme Court of India to investigate allegations of illegal detentions.
Reasons given by police to detain minors include the throwing of stones, riots and damage to public and private property, the committee said in its report.
The majority has already been released.
However, the police denied that any child was taken to “illegal detention” and said that the children are “treated strictly (according to) according to the prescribed law”.
“It often happens that when the children are handed over to the stone, they are momentarily detained at the scene and sent home. Some of these incidents are exaggerated beyond the proportion, "police said, according to the report.
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New Delhi stripped Kashmir, occupied by India, of its autonomy on August 5, sending tens of thousands of additional troops, cutting off telecommunications and arresting thousands of people.
Almost two months later, many of the region's leading politicians remain in custody and mobile phones and the Internet remain largely in the Kashmir valley.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said last month that she was "deeply concerned about the impact of recent Indian government actions on the human rights of cashmere."
Last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan told the UN General Assembly that India could unleash a "bloodbath" in Muslim-majority territory.
An uprising against the Indian government and a harsh Indian response has killed tens of thousands of people since 1989, most of them civilians.
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1508397/9-year-old-among-144-minors-detained-in-occupied-kashmir