Sumit Raina

On the night of 28 April 1990, terrorists arrived at the home of Kashmiri Poet Sh Sarwanand Kaul. Terrorists gathered all the members of the family together and offered a pretext: they claimed to be looking for someone called Ghulam Rasool. Then they looted the house systematically. They took gold, jewellery, Pashmina shawls, and clothes bought for an upcoming family wedding. They entered Sh Sarwanand’s library and took literary manuscripts and works in progress. Then came the demand: Sarwanand Kaul Premi must come with them to meet their commander. His younger son, Virender Kaul, refused to let his father go alone. He insisted on going with him. The extremists agreed. Father and son walked out into the darkness of 28 April 1990 and did not come back. #OnThisDay in 1990, their bodies were found hanging from a tree. Their arms & legs had been broken. Their eyes had been gouged and what not .. Verinder Kaul left behind a young widow and an infant son, 18 months old. This forced the Kaul family to leave Kashmir, never to return and people in Kashmir today blame Sh Jagmohan Malhotra for the exodus of the Kashmiri Hindus. There was no protest in #Kashmir then and all this happened in the thought process of "Raliv, Galiv ya Chaliv"..

👉 I would urge the Hon’ble Assam CM to reconsider his stand, irrespective of Monday’s outcome, especially in light of the remarks quoted in the judgment. The Supreme Court has cited several of his public statements, many of which are deeply inappropriate and lower the standards of our democracy. 👉 Most charges against Mr. Khera were bailable. 👉 In any democracy, space must be preserved for political dissent. Without that, the fundamental right to free speech is at serious risk. : AICC-Law, Human Rights and RTI Department Chairman @DrAMSinghvi ji