Srinagar Court declares man dead 28 years after army custody
A Srinagar court has declared a man dead nearly 28 years after he was taken into Army custody in 1997, citing inquiry findings that he was killed in detention and applying the legal presumption of death, Bar and Bench reported.
Sub-Judge Massarat Jabeen issued a declaration of death for Abdul Rashid Wani following a civil suit filed by his wife and two sons. The court also directed the Srinagar Municipal Corporation to issue a death certificate.
The court found that Wani was taken into custody by the Gorkha Rifles in July 1997 and was allegedly killed by an Army officer, Major V. P. Yadav. The findings were based on an inquiry conducted by a Sessions Judge in Srinagar under the direction of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court.
According to the inquiry report, Wani was detained along with another individual, Farooq Ahmad Bhat, and was later killed in custody, with his body disposed of.
The court noted that both the judicial inquiry and police investigation failed to trace his whereabouts, with investigators concluding that he had been killed.
Citing the lack of information about Wani for over seven years and the findings of the inquiry, the court held that the legal presumption of death applied in the case and ruled in favour of the family.
Human rights groups, including the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, estimate that between 8,000 and 10,000 people have disappeared in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989, when the armed insurgency intensified. Many of these cases allegedly involve detentions by Indian security forces during cordon-and-search operations or crackdowns, with families reporting that their relatives were taken into custody and never returned.
These disappearances have led to the emergence of thousands of “half-widows,” women whose husbands remain missing, with estimates ranging from 1,500 to 2,500.
They often face severe social, economic and psychological challenges due to the absence of death certificates, lack of legal closure, and uncertainty surrounding inheritance, remarriage and their children’s future.
