A 15-year-old Kashmiri boy who had allegedly gone missing in the custody of Indian army was Saturday night released from the seven days of captivity, his family members said Sunday.

Basharat Ahmad Bhat was found in an unconscious state Saturday night in Jaibal village, 70 kilometers south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India-controlled Kashmir and hospitalized for treatment.

"Thank God, he's alive. The people from neighboring village came to us saying Basharat is lying on the road in unconscious state. We rushed there and found his hands and legs tied with rope and liquor sprinkled on his clothes. He was even forced to drink some of it. We quickly removed him to the hospital and his condition is stable now," said Bhat's father Mohammed Maqbool in atelephone interview to Xinhua.

According to family members, on June 28, Bhat was summoned by Indian army troopers stationed in the village but did not return home. The perturbed family members along with the villagers went to the camp seeking his whereabouts, but were told he was released during the day.

The alleged disappearance triggered massive protests and shutdown in Anantnag district with people holding demos seeking whereabouts of the youth.

In the region around 10,000 people have disappeared in the custody of police and Indian army troopers since 1990, says Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, an organization fighting for whereabouts of disappeared persons in the region.

Bhat's release would help the local government, which is already facing a tough situation to bring down the tempers in the region.

The unrest in the region began with the rape and murder of two women aged 17 and 22 years on May 30 in Shopian town, 50 kilometers south of Srinagar. Locals suspect the involvement of troopers in the rape and killing of the duo.

It was followed by the police firing on the civilians on June 29 in Baramulla town, 52 kilometers northwest of Srinagar that resulted in the killing of four people.

Source: Xinhua