ASA 20/053/2011

INDIA

Eighteen year old Murtaza Manzoor has been held under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act by the state police in India since 19 December. He has already been detained twice for a total of four months earlier this year.

Eighteen year-old Murtaza Manzoor has been held in administrative detention under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA) since 19 December. On 2 October, he was arrested by police in Srinagar for pelting stones, along with other youths, at the police. He was sent to Srinagar prison. In the first week of November, a local court ordered his release on bail. However, the police did not release him, but moved him to a different local police station, re-arrested him for pelting stones at them on a different occasion and sent him to prison again. The police have announced that he will now be moved to Kot Balwal prison in Jammu.

Murtaza Manzoor was twice detained, once under the PSA, earlier this year, the first time between 8 February and 18 May, after his arrest on 21 January for similar reasons. It was following this detention that Amnesty International verified his age from official documents as 17 and demanded his immediate release, unless he was held on charges of a recognizably criminal offence, in which case he should be afforded all fair trial guarantees set out in international law, specifically the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). On 13 May, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir found the detention unlawful and ordered his release. On 18 May, instead of releasing him from the Kot Balwal prison, a counter-insurgency team held him at the Joint Interrogation Centre at Jammu, following which Amnesty International issued another urgent action demanding his release. He was finally released on 23 June.

During his earlier detentions, Murtaza Manzoor had been treated as an adult, as the juvenile justice laws of Jammu and Kashmir currently define boys above the age of 16 as adults, contravening Indian law and the CRC, which defines those above the age of 18 as adults. The state cabinet has reportedly approved the amendment of the laws in Jammu and Kashmir to comply with the CRC.

Please write immediately in English or your own language:

* Demanding that the authorities immediately end the administrative detention of Murtaza Manzoor unless he is to be held on charges of a recognizably criminal offence.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 1 FEBRUARY 2012 TO:

Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir

Omar Abdullah

Civil Secretariat

Government of Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu 180 001

India

Fax: +91 191 2546466

Salutation: Dear Chief Minister

Minister of Home Affairs

P Chidambaram

North Block, Central Secretariat

New Delhi 110 001

India

Fax: + 91 11 23094221

Email: hm@nic.in

Salutation: Dear Minister

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

INDIENS AMBASSAD

BOX 1340

111 83 STOCKHOLM

FAX 08-24 85 05

E- post: socialsecretary@indianembassy.se

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Name: Murtaza Manzoor

Gender m/f: male