With the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah sanctioning and releasing a grant of ₹30 lakh out of the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund in favour of the Next of Kin (NoK) of the deceased victims of the Badhaal tragedy, the tragedy has once again come into focus. Given the history of Jammu and Kashmir, once such tragedies go out of focus, both the governments and the society tends to forget the same and this intentional forgetfulness has left several tragedies here as mysteries as no answers were provided, Badhaal being one among these.
Seventeen people, including 13 children, died between December 7, 2024 and January 19, 2025 in the village. At that time, the deaths sparked widespread concern among lawmakers and locals alike. However, once the public outcry was over, the issue seemingly was thrown into cold store without providing any scientific reasons behind the deaths. The government continued to insist that the investigation under the home department was actively pursuing leads. At that time clinical reports, laboratory investigations and environmental samples indicated that the incidents were not due to communicable diseases of bacterial or viral origin and have pointed instead to traces of aluminium, cadmium, and specific chemical compounds in food and environmental and forensic analysis by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Chandigarh detected chlorfenapyr, an insecticide, in the viscera samples of all 17 deceased individuals.
It has been eight months now and the authorities still seem clueless about these “unexplained deaths”. Though the CM’s financial assistance will enable the surviving members of bereaved families to rebuild their lives, but the question remains, what happened to the investigations. Jammu and Kashmir has a history of botched up investigations. Many of them remain inconclusive while others are dumped under the mud of the time as peoples’ memory about these starts fading away. But those who suffer loses, in absence of any closure, their pain remains constant.
To ensure peoples’ safety is the prime duty of every government. 17 people have died, eight months are pass and the Jammu and Kashmir government is yet to come up with any definite answers. Despite claiming a multi-pronged investigation involving local and national authorities, people of the impacted area, in particular, and other living in the Union Territory were never told what exactly caused these deaths. Doesn’t government owe an explanation to the people, at least to the kith and kin of the deceased ones? Or, does government think that, paying some bucks, that too after eight months is how it should be. People, in rest of the UT, may have forgotten the tragedy but those impacted are facing it every day in absence of any concrete answer from the concerned authorities. Let government come clean and explain to these families that what caused the death of their dear ones.