Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Saifuddin Soz on Friday claimed that the government had resorted to underhanded means to make false claims about his freedom.
Saifuddin Soz has allegedly been under house arrest since August 5, the day Article 370 was abrogated.
The government has told the Supreme Court that he was never detained or arrested and is not under house arrest. However, when the media visited his house on Thursday, they found that the Congress leader was not allowed to leave at his own free will. He was in fact whisked forcefully when he tried to speak to media by climbing his compound wall.
Later, in a statement, Soz said that the government was blatantly lying to the Supreme Court and he plans to sue the government for his illegal detention.
On Friday, Saifuddin Soz reiterated his claim of not being a free man.
In a statement issued to the press, Soz said that he is ‘under house arrest and can not go out, at all’.
Soz said that during the day he had visited his ailing sister and was escorted there in a police vehicle. The cops shot the video of him leaving and are now allegedly using it as a way to prove that he was free to leave his house.
“Today, I went to see my ailing sister at Gulbarg Colony, Hyderpora, Srinagar. Since the police would not allow me to travel without its vehicle, two PSO’s accompanied me. When I returned home, the police produced and released a video showing that I was a free man. This version of the police is nothing more than a white lie,” Soz said.
He also added that when he tried to visit his daughter in neighbourhood he was not allowed, “Meanwhile, I tried to go out of my premises at 12.35 pm today to see my daughter in the neighbourhood but the police did not allow me to go out!”
“I confirm the fact that I an under ‘house-arrest’ and I can not go out, at all. The government version that I was a free man is wrong. I do not know why the government has resorted to such underhand means. I have not violated any law of the land, yet I am under ‘detention’. My detention shows how civil liberties stand suppressed in Kashmir,” the Congress leader said.