The Jammu and Kashmir police, in their compliance report to a Srinagar court, on Friday termed the allegations of mass seizing of two-wheelers ahead of the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in October “baseless and far from facts and reality”.
“The allegations levelled against the district police are vehemently denied, being baseless, far from facts and reality and nothing more than a mere figment of imagination of the applicant,” the compliance report, filed by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sandeep Chaudhary reads.
Last month, Naveed Bukhtiyar, a social activist, pleaded before the court that in the past one month the Jammu and Kashmir police have been “detaining two-wheelers illegally in violation of the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act and releasing the vehicles by exercising the power of a traffic judge”.
In a major crackdown in the last week of October against motorcyclists in Srinagar, locals accused the police of seizing two-wheelers “in spite of possessing valid documents” and “shifting them to police stations for prolonged detention”.
However, the police denied that the applicant’s two-wheeler was “detained or seized”. “Thus, releasing the same by allegedly exercising powers of a traffic magistrate are vehemently denied. The compounding of challans falls within the exclusive purport and domain of the traffic police and the district police.”
The police said they had the highest respect of rule of law and were an accountable government functionary, having complete adherence and utmost regard to authority and powers.
“The applicant has no locus to file the instant application before the court and same being devoid of any merit deserves rejection with costs,” the police said.
