J&K Police counsel three teenagers over flag graffiti

A day after detaining two youth for displaying foreign flags, the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday (June 24, 2025) “counselled” three teenage girls over a graffiti resembling the Israeli flag.

A police spokesman said that when they received information about the graffiti painted on a road outside Imambara Zadibal, a team reached the spot and immediately removed it “to maintain communal harmony and public order”.

A preliminary enquiry revealed the involvement of three teenage girls, all students residing in the area. “Given their age and the sensitivity of the act, their parents were called to the police station. The minors were counselled in their presence,” the police said.

The police said further action would be strictly in accordance with the juvenile justice framework.

On Monday (June 23, 2025), two local youth were detained for displaying flags of the U.S. and Israel in Balhama on the outskirts of the Srinagar city.

A police spokesman said the two were displaying foreign flags during night hours “in an apparent attempt to disturb public peace and order”.

Probe into parading of theft accused

Meanwhile, in a separate incident in Jammu, the police have initiated a preliminary enquiry against the police personnel involved in parading a man held on theft charge.

The police action followed a public outcry after a video of the incident went viral on social media.

“The video shows a person with naked torso being garlanded with slippers and being paraded by police personnel of the Bakshi Nagar police station after making him sit on the bonnet of a police vehicle,” the police said.

The police said the act calls for stern departmental action against those responsible. “In order to ascertain the facts, a preliminary enquiry is hereby ordered and entrusted with the SDPO City North, Jammu, who will inquire into the matter and submit his findings within a week,” the police said.

‘Inhuman treatment’

Nasir Khuehami, a student activist and member of the J&K Students Association (JKSA), questioned the police action. “Instead of following the standard procedure and keeping him inside the police van, the officers chose to parade him in full public display. How can the police justify such an inhuman and degrading treatment? This reek of medieval vigilantism,” Mr. Khuehami said.

He said such grotesque public humiliation is not just a violation of the law, but an assault on human dignity and the very principles that underpin the justice system. “Police are not mobs. They are the custodians of the law. The duty of an SHO is to investigate, not adjudicate to uphold justice, not to dispense punishment through public spectacle. Such crude displays of ‘instant justice’ erode public trust, delegitimise the institution, and push our democracy one step closer to the abyss of lawlessness,” he added.