Mehbooba Mufti urges Union Home Secretary to intervene in Shabir Shah's case on humanitarian grounds

Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti has urged Government of India to intervene on humanitarian grounds and ensure medical intervention and access to the family of incarcerated Hurriyat leader Shabir Shah, who is lodged in Tihar jail.

In July this year, as per his family, Shah, 74, will start his 40th year in jail and his ninth consecutive year in Tihar jail. Shah's family informed that in the wake of grave medical concerns and escalating risk to his life, they would request, through lawyers, to put him in the house arrest in Delhi as has been done in the cases of Zahoor Watali and Gautam Navlakha.

"Shabir Shah incarcerated in Tihar Jail for a considerable period is reportedly suffering from prostate cancer and is in urgent need of surgery. Deeply unfortunate that the Courts have barred his family from being present during his treatment," Mufti wrote on X. She appealed to the Home Secretary Govind Mohan to intervene on humanitarian grounds and ensure that due compassion care is extended in this critical time and that his family is allowed to be by his side at this difficult hour.

Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also expressed concerns over Shah's deteriorating health and that of others languishing in different jails in J&K and across the country.

"Reports of Shabir Shah Sahab’s serious health condition in Tihar Jail, and denial of access to his family members to talk to him on phone for the past two years, or care for him when he is facing such a medical emergency and is in dire need of a surgery, is very unfortunate and disturbing," said Mirwaiz adding, "I spoke to his wife yesterday who told me that the family’s bail plea on his grave medical condition too has been rejected and she does not know how to help him."

Mirwaiz said that the other political prisoners, who due to prolonged incarceration and subhuman jail conditions are suffering from grave health issues. "The prolonged imprisonment, devoid of due legal process, has made the process their punishment. It is against the very idea that the Indian legal system claims to uphold — the basic human rights of the prisoners, violating the very idea of human dignity, due process and justice," said Mirwaiz. He appealed to the Government of India and the concerned authorities not to make the process the punishment for the leadership and all other Kashmiri political prisoners. "They should immediately intervene to ensure that due medical care is extended to Shah Sahab, and his family is allowed access to be with him when he needs them the most. I also appeal to the elected government of J&K to raise this serious issue and provide every assistance that they can in this matter," said Mirwaiz.

Shah's wife Dr Bilques Shah in a communication wrote that for two years they have no contact with Shah as he had been disallowed to make any calls to family from jail.

"This situation that our family has been placed in is not only cruel—it is inhumane. What is the point of a legal system that does not even allow a family to hear the voice of their loved one? Also our bail application on health and humanitarian grounds was denied," she wrote.

Shah's wife further said that given his advanced age and multiple comorbidities, the family cannot entrust his life to the unpredictable discretion of jail authorities. "The risks are far too great.

This is not just about Shabir Shah. This is about justice. It is about humanity. About recognising that a human being deserves dignity. Let not the silence of prison walls drown out the voice of justice," she wrote.