Iltija Mufti, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and erstwhile BJP ally Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter who has been issued a “country-specific” passport that allows her to visit only the UAE for higher studies, has accused the CID that runs the security show in the Union territory of “persecuting” Kashmiris like the Gestapo of Nazi Germany.

The CID (Criminal Investigation Department) of Jammu and Kashmir police is rarely criticised in public by Kashmir politicians, largely because of the fear of retribution in a place that has not had an elected government for nearly four years.

Iltija on Thursday received the two-year passport that allows her to visit only one nation for higher studies after the CID reportedly invoked the Official Secrets Act.

On Friday, Iltija suggested that the CID might as well have pressed espionage charges against her as it had invoked the Officials Secrets Act to deny her a normal passport.

“This Act is usually invoked for espionage,” she said. “They (CID officers) are lying to the court.... The CID here has only one job — that is to harass and persecute Kashmiris. There was a force called the Gestapo in Nazi Germany, its police wing, which was persecuting and harassing Jews. Similarly, the CID has only one work here, which is to crush Kashmiris, persecute them, snatch their jobs and book them under UAPA (the anti-terrorism law).”

Iltija did not mention it but the passports of Jews in Nazi Germany were invalidated in 1938 and the document had to be stamped with a red “J” denoting the holder’s religion to get them validated again. Such rules marked the persecution of the Jews that eventually led to the Holocaust.

Iltija said the government wanted to make an example out of her family “so as to stop people from raising their voice”.

“Am I a fugitive? Am I Nirav Modi, am I a terrorist, an anti-national that I am being punished? If I talk about the central government, is it like talking against the country?” she asked.

Iltija had approached the high court in February after her application for a passport was denied following an “adverse report” from the CID. Her passport had expired on January 2 last year and she had applied for a fresh one on June 8.

Iltija said the CID last month handed over an “adverse report” in a sealed cover (under the Official Secrets Act) to the court, citing the reasons for denying her a normal passport.

“I am not a fugitive or a conman like Kiran Patel who was treated as a VVIP,” she said. Gujarat resident Patel was arrested last month after he allegedly posed as a top official from the Prime Minister’s Office to enjoy the government’s hospitality in Kashmir during multiple trips.

Iltija said she was an “Indian citizen and a law-abiding citizen” and had broken no laws.

She said Delhi was using the CID to “criminalise” the right that ordinary residents looking to travel abroad for studies and jobs have to a passport.

People from different walks of life in Kashmir, including journalists, were routinely denied passports or were put on no-fly lists to prevent them travelling abroad, she underlined.

In October, photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo, 28, was denied boarding at Delhi airport for a flight to the US to accept the Pulitzer Prize at a ceremony in New York.

Iltija accused the CID of putting Kashmir on “auto-pilot and silent mode” after the 2019 scrapping of the special status, and of denying the “basic right to talk” to those who want to express themselves.

“The CID is playing a very dirty role…. Why has the CID submitted an adverse report in a sealed cover? If you are so confident about your report, then why did you invoke the Official Secrets Act? Why do you not want the document to come out in the public domain?” Iltija asked.

“Because there is nothing substantial in that, there are no solid grounds (against me). So, you are misleading the court. So, I request the court to see that it is being misled.”

Iltija had emerged as one of the leading voices criticising the policies of the Centre in the wake of the 2019 revocation of the special status, with most other politicians jailed.

“The deputy solicitor-general (of India, Tahir Majid) Shamsi has asked the court to dismiss my petition as a passport has been issued to me. But what passport is this?” Iltija asked.

She said the CID had told the court that it was not stopping her passport and “not violating any of my fundamental rights”. She accused both the CID and the passport officer of lying.

“This is happening to me because I am the daughter of a former chief minister. I am not entitled to a passport because Mehbooba Mufti is my mother. I am entitled to a passport because I am a law-abiding citizen,” she said.

Iltija asked if there was any FIR or chargesheet against her in any court to deny her a normal passport.

“It is a conditional passport, (the like of) which is not given even to fugitives. The regional passport officer is flouting the Passport Act and violating his duties because if you are giving a conditional passport to me then you have to tell me why,” she said.

Asked if she would continue to pursue the matter in court, Iltija alleged that there was pressure on her lawyer to “withdraw the petition”.

“But I will not withdraw my petition because this is not only my fight but also of others who have been deprived of such rights. There is tremendous pressure on us to withdraw the petition, but I will continue to fight it in the court and I have full faith in the honourable judiciary that they will issue this passport,” she said.

CID response

The CID has denied any wrongdoing and said the claim of pressuring litigants to withdraw their court petitions was not true.

In a statement, a CID spokesperson said that law-enforcing agencies do not ordinarily discuss their work procedures in public but it had become necessary to do so following “false allegations” attributed to figures with a public profile. The agency did not name Iltija.

The CID spokesperson said the department was approaching the aggrieved person to ascertain details about who had pressured her. The department has promised disciplinary action if any of its officers is found delinquent.