Abrar Ahmad Ganai was taken into custody in the wake of a decision by the Indian government to strip Kashmir’s special status. He was sent several thousand kilometres away from his home to Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh state.

Ganai was released last week after two months in custody under a controversial law, known as the Public Safety Act (PSA), which authorises the detention of someone for up to two years without trial.

A magistrate in Indian-administered Kashmir’s southern Anantnag district said on August 8 that Ganai was “found leading big violent mobs raising anti-national slogans”.

Anantnag district’s police chief in his dossier against Ganai, which became the grounds for his arrest, says he has the “natural bent of mind towards secessionism”.

In the quiet Hugam village of Anantnag which is nestled among apple orchards, neighbours lined up to congratulate the family.

“He was in a 6×7 cell,” Manzoor Ahmad Ganai, his father, told Al Jazeera. “He has lost seven kilogrammes and looks pale. He is very depressed and frightened. His whole body aches and there are scars on his back,” he said.

“He was kept in very hard conditions. He even fears to share it. He is sleeping with his mother,” he added.

Ganai’s father said that his son “wore the same clothes for two months”. “We were not even given a chance to meet him or give him clothes.”

In jail, the teenager cried inconsolably and did not sleep, his father said. “He said: ‘I was waiting for my death’.”

The detention of juveniles or minors – people under the age of 18 – has been part of the ongoing crackdown in the Muslim-majority region which has seen the arrest of separatist leaders as well as pro-India politicians – including former chief ministers.

An unknown number of detainees, including teenagers, have been moved to jails in other Indian states, hampering visits from their families who cannot afford frequent costly travel.

NDTV news channel reported that the Supreme Court was informed on Monday that 144 minors have been arrested since August 5, the day the Indian government abrogated Article 370 of the constitution that provided a measure of autonomy to India’s only Muslim region.