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Case regarding setting ablaze of govt vehicle: Youth arrested by police

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 9/23/2012 12:37:42 AM

SRINAGAR, Sep 22: The police have taken into custody five to six youths alleging that they were involved in setting a government vehicle on fire during the protests on Tuesday.
The officials at police station Kothi Bagh revealed that the youths, arrested from various old city areas, were not booked yet and that the police was still in the process of ascertaining their identity.
“We are looking into the footages and snaps to identify the guilty among them…They are in custody, but charges have not been leveled against anyone as yet,” the officials said without confirming the exact number and identity of the detainees.
“Five or six are in custody, but we cannot reveal their details to the press,” they said.
On Tuesday, when protests were held in entire Kashmir against the anti-Islam movie, the youths rallying from old city towards Lal Chowk set ablaze a Maruti Gypsy vehicle belonging to the forest department. The police burst tear smoke shells and baton charged the protesters, and later registered a case against the anonymous attackers. Subsequently, the process was started to identify and arrest them.
The officials at the police station said the suspected linchpin in the act was also taken into custody.
When this newspaper contacted the Station House Officer, he denied that anyone has been arrested.
“We have not arrested anyone,” he said.
Meanwhile, the residents of Habba Kadal staged protests against the overnight police raid in the area leading to arrest of many boys. The protesters said the police barged into their houses and arrested at least eight boys most of whom, they said, are just 12 or 13 years of age.
“They entered the houses in the middle of the night and took out the boys from bedrooms,” they said.
The protesters blocked the main road, hampering the movement of traffic. Shouting slogans the protesting men and women and demanded release of all of them.
The protests lasted several hours before the protesters dispersed peacefully.
It, however, remained inconclusive whether the youths lodged in the Kothi Bagh police station and those arrested at Habba Kadal are same.