NC MP Mehdi urges Amit Shah to release of prisoners from J&K held ‘without trial’ for long period

Srinagar, Aug 3 (PTI) National Conference MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi has sought the release of prisoners from Jammu and Kashmir who have been held “without trial” for an extended period, the party said in a statement.

The MP from Srinagar met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi late on Friday to advocate for the release of hundreds of such prisoners, it said.

Mehdi also requested Shah to facilitate the transfer of undertrial prisoners to jails in Jammu and Kashmir.

The NC leader handed over a letter to Shah in which he emphasized the urgency of addressing the prolonged detention of these people and stressed the importance of upholding their rights to a fair and timely trial.

Several people from Jammu and Kashmir from different regions of the Valley have been incarcerated as convicts, undertrials or without a trail in different parts of the country, Mehdi said

“Most of these prisoners held without a trial happen to be young individuals. It is unfair on the part of the government to hold these people at an age that is decisive for career and nation-building.

“I believe their release to be imperative, and call upon the government to release the prisoners without a trial at the earliest,” he said in the letter.

Calling for a compassionate stance towards the prisoners from Jammu and Kashmir lodged in different jails across the country, Mehdi said, “Those prisoners who are convicted or are undertrial should be shifted to the Valley on humanitarian grounds.”

“It is also difficult, both physically and financially, for the relatives of these prisoners to meet them in the different parts of the country,” he added.