In this connection, we would like to bring to the attention of your Excellency’s
Government information we have received concerning the allegations of arrest
followed by torture and death in custody of Mr. Muhammad Ashraf Khan Sehrai.
He suffered from hypertension and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), and
reportedly had no access to adequate medication since his arrest. Two of his sons,
Mujahid Ashraf Khan and Rashed Ashraf Khan, were arrested at his home after
the funeral.
The case of Mr. Muhammad Ashraf Khan Sehrai was transmitted to your
Excellency’s Government by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances, under its urgent procedure on 19 October 2020. It was clarified on
21 May 2021, based on information received from the source, confirming Mr. Sehrai’s
death. The cases of Mr. Mujahid Ashraf Khan and Mr. Rashed Ashraf Khan, were
also transmitted to your Excellency’s Government by the Working Group on Enforced
or Involuntary Disappearances, under its urgent procedure, on 19 May 2021. According
to the latest information received, the two men are no longer disappeared. Regrettably,
to date there has not been any reply from your Excellency’s Government to the Working
Group, concerning these cases.
According to the information received :
On 12 July 2020, at around 5:30 a.m., Mr. Muhammad Ashraf Khan Sehrai, a
77 years-old-Kashmiri, chairman of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, which is a
constituent of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, was arrested at his home in
Jehangir Colony, Bhaagat, Barzala, Srinagar, by several Indian Army personnel
and armed gunmen in plain clothes, without an arrest warrant. These individuals
did not speak Kashmiri. Several persons witnessed the arrest. Once arrested long
ago, in March 1965, Mr. Sehrai has spent over 16 years of his life in various
jails across India.
Persons associated with Mr. Sehrai searched for him including at the Jammu
and Kashmir Main Srinagar police station. It is believed he was originally taken

to Saddar Police station. Mr. Sehrai was reportedly arrested under the Public
Safety Act (PSA).
His family was later informed that he was at Udhampur District Jail, in Jammu,
more than 200 kilometers away from Srinagar. In October 2020, the family
travelled to Udhampur District Jail to inquire about his whereabouts. However,
they did not get any information about his whereabouts, were threatened by
security officers at the jail and by an Indian Army officer, and told to not return.
Despite filing a Habeas Corpus case in the Jammu Kashmir High Court, that
should decide on the case within 15 days, Mr. Sehrai was not released. Likewise,
his family filed three requests before the said Court for ensuring his vital
medical treatment. The Court delayed the hearing of the petitions – which in
turn delayed essential medical care and exacerbated the health condition of Mr.
Sehrai while in detention. The family had also sought for his transfer from the
Udhampur jail to Central Jail Srinagar, considering his ailing condition, to no
avail. In effect, the isolation suffered by Mr. Sehrai, was exacerbated by his
transferal to a place of detention far away from his place of residence and family.
This was an aggravating factor for the life-threatening conditions of detention
he was subjected to.
In late January 2021, Mr. Sehrai was reportedly allowed a phone call to his
family members every other week. His last phone call was in early April 2021,
three weeks before his death. During those phone calls, he complained about
his deteriorating health, of being placed in solitary confinement and for lack of
access to adequate medical care. Mr. Sehrai suffered from hypertension and
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), and reportedly had no access to his life-saving
medication while in detention.
On 3 May 2021, an employee from Udhampur District Jail informed a relative
of Mr. Sehrai that he had been admitted into Government Medical College,
Jammu. When the relatives arrived there on 4 May 2021, they were not allowed
to see or visit Mr. Sehrai. After almost 10 hours of waiting, they were told that
he had died.
Personnel at the Medical College informed family members that they would not
be given his body. The family protested against this decision at the hospital. His
remains were finally handed over to the family on 5 May 2021, without any
official explanation about the reasons for his death.
Family members then obtained permission from Indian army representatives
that he be buried in their village in Lolab, Kupwara, and not in Srinagar. This
was accepted also on the condition that no more than 20 people could attend the
funeral, otherwise they would all be arrested. The family had to pay the
ambulance service to take the body from Jammu to Kupwara. After the funeral,
Mr. Sehrai’s sons, Mr. Mujahid Ashraf Khan and Mr. Rashed Ashraf Khan,
were arrested at his home and are still in detention. They are charged under
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and are being shifted to different
prisons.

The cause of Mr. Sehrai’s death was said to be bilateral pneumonia and low
levels of oxygen saturation and thus attributed to COVID-19. However, he
reportedly died due to the lack of access to his medicine and adequate medical
care while in prison. Sleep deprivation and being placed in solitary confinement
might have also had a negative impact on his health.
Reportedly, Indian authorities have so far not opened an investigation into the
allegations of torture suffered by Mr. Sehrai and the causes of his death in
custody.
Without prejudging the accuracy of these allegations, we express grave concern
at the re-arrest, followed by torture and his death in custody of Mr. Sehrai, an elderly
man aged 77. We are also concerned by the reported lack of access to adequate medical
care while he was prison, given his fragility and known physical conditions. If
confirmed, these allegations would amount to multiple violation of the right of every
individual to life and security, the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of torture and
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, of the right not to be
arbitrarily deprived of one’s life or liberty, as well as the right to health, as set forth in
articles 6, 7 and 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
which India acceeded to on 10 April 1979.
Given the gravity of the case, we urge your Excellency’s Government and the
local authorities in Jammu and Kashmir to undertake a prompt, thorough, independent
and impartial investigation into the death in custody of Mr. Sehrai so as to determine
and document the reason for his arrest, its factual and legal basis, his treatment in
detention, including any indication that he may have been tortured or otherwise
mistreated, and the cause of his death.