“I was awake most of that night, haunted by the physical assault and their abuse,” Javeed wrote of his experience.
Kashmiri journalist Auqib Javeed said he feared for his life after he recounted being assaulted and harassed by the region’s cyber police following a story he wrote on the intimidation of social media users critical of the government by the police, published by Article 14.
Javeed said he was summoned by the Cyber Wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police on September 18, where masked policeman slapped him twice.
Javeed’s story published by Article14 had carried a quote by Superintendent of Police of the Cyber Wing Tahir Ashraf Bhatii, who had reportedly said: “We are living in a democratic country, and people have every right to criticise the government and that is how democracy works.”
Javeed said when he was waiting outside the SP’s office as the cop accompanying him had gone inside, someone approached him from behind and slapped him.
“I somehow and vaguely rationalised this assault as the cost of doing journalism in Kashmir. I was not the first to be intimidated. Others have had cases filed against them,” he Javeed wrote in an article recounting the assault.
