Raising objections to the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) administration registering an FIR against “unknown” persons for the death of three civilians in Army’s custody in Poonch, Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said this indicates that efforts were being made to suppress the facts.

Speaking to mediapersons in Poonch, The PDP chief said faces of the Army and police personnel were clearly visible in the video of torture of the civilians that have gone viral. Why then was the FIR registered against unknown persons. Moreover, people of the village recognise the policemen who accompanied the troops.

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She pointed out that so far, only the Army personnel are accused of torturing the civilians while she was told by the people of the Topi Peer village that men of the special operations group (SOG) of the police were also involved in merciless beating of civilians after four soldiers were killed in an ambush by terrorists.

She further said that the police also accompanied the Army troops to the Topi Peer village and picked up the innocent people who had no connection with terrorists.

The PDP chief said that four seriously injured civilians were being treated in the military hospital and their relatives were not allowed to meet them.

People of Rajouri and Poonch have always been loyal the Indian Army and assisted it in several wars since 1947, she said.

Mehbooba claimed that the civilians were not only thrashed but chilly powder was also applied to their bodies while being tortured. The video of torture was deliberately leaked to create terror among the people. “The injured men who were hospitalised in Rajouri said they were beaten by the SOG, the police and Army personnel,” she said.

Commenting on recent visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Army chief General Manoj Pande to Rajouri where they met relatives of the dead civilians and also the injured, she asked why no action has been taken against the guilty.

The PDP chief said after allowing the J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina and the National Conference (NC) leadership to visit the Topi Peer village, the administration allowed her also to come here but a heavy contingent of police stopped her midway. She was not even allowed to meet the injured people in the Rajouri hospital today, she said.

“The administration wants to hide these atrocities and doesn’t want the women of killed persons to cry their heart out to me,” Mehbooba said.

She urged the Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha to provide relief of Rs 50 lakh each to families of those killed and Rs 5 lakh to the injured.