Exactly a month ago, this police officer from the Valley was dragged out of an apartment in New Delhi and detained at the Vasant Kunj police station for five hours on the suspicion that he was a ‘‘dreaded militant.’’ Superintendent of Police (Prisons) in charge of the Baramulla district jail Sheikh Abdul Rashid’s plight was reported first in The Indian Express following which there was widespread outrage. Now Rashid is paying for speaking up. In an unusual order, the Home Ministry has written to the J-K Government asking it not to let Rashid go ‘‘unpunished.’’ His crime: he committed ‘‘gross indiscipline’’ by going public.
Acting promptly, the state government has transferred Rashid from Baramulla to Ladakh and also sought an explanation from him regarding this ‘‘indiscipline.’’