Indian police attach GPS tracking device on two more bailed out Kashmiris in IIOJK
Srinagar: In utter violation of freedom of movement and right to privacy, Indian police authorities have affixed Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking system on two more bailed out Kashmiris in Islamabad district of occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the police affixed the GPS anklet on the two under-trial Kashmiri youth who were enlarged on bail. They were illegally arrested in 2018 under the draconian the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in Dooru area of Islamabad district.
The police officers have given their action a legal cover by claiming that they were complying with the court order, adding the GPS anklet would be used to monitor the movement of the under-trials.
This is not the first time that the Indian authorities have affixed GPS tracking system on the Kashmiris. A day earlier the police in Baramulla affixed such system on an under-trial Kashmiri who was enlarged on bail after he was booked under the draconian UAPA in Uri Police Station. The first victim of the India’s novel punishment is an elderly Kashmiri, Ghulam Muhammad Butt, a resident of Srinagar. The 65-year-old Ghulam Mohammad Butt has been walking with the tracker around his ankle since November 2023.
Human rights activists while expressing serious concern on putting a GPS tracker on the body of a person facing trial in IIOJK said the GPS anklet is a form of ‘virtual imprisonment’. They argued that electronic tagging fitted to the body of a person may raise issues of fundamental liberties, such as freedom of movement or a person’s right to privacy. “Given that it is used against undertrial accused, it relies on the logic that one is guilty until proven innocent. That is injustice”, they added.
