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| Hospital ransacked, vehicles damaged, doctors manhandled by angry crowds | | Shopian erupts over mystery death of 2 young women | | Geelani puts ‘rape-and-murder’ blame on CRPF, calls for shutdown on Monday
AHMED ALI FAYYAZ
SRINAGAR, May 30: Death of two young women in mysterious circumstances has sent shockwaves in South Kashmir as angry crowds today raised fingers of suspicion on paramilitary forces, enforced shutdown at district headquarters of Shopian, refused to accept the report of post mortem conducted by local doctors, ransacked the hospital assets, manhandled the staff and damaged their vehicles. Senior separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has slammed the blame of “rape-and-murder” on Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and called for total shutdown in Valley on Monday next.
Informed sources in South Kashmir told Early Times that one Shakil Ahmed Ahangar S/o Abdul Gani Ahangar R/o Bongam mohalla of Shopian township lodged a missing report at Police Station Shopian late last night with the statement that his 25-year-old wife, Neelofar Jan, and 17-year-old sister, Asiya, had left for their orchard, across Rambiara Nallah, at 1600 hours yesterday but had not reached back their home till 2350 hours. Police entered the report in its daily diary and launched search for the missing women with the help of their family members, relatives and other residents.
Even as the night-long search yielded nothing, dead bodies of both the women were spotted and recovered in the morning today and subsequently subjected to autopsy at District Hospital of Shopian. Reports said that Neelofar was mother of a young child and unmarried Asiya was a class 11th student. Like all others in the locality, they had been usually visiting their orchard with the routine chore of collecting fodder for their cattle.
Gynecologist Dr Bilquees, joined by local assistant surgeon Dr Bilal, conducted the post mortem and prepared a report which, according to hospital sources, concluded that there were neither any marks of physical violence nor any evidence of sexual violation on the bodies. As hundreds of people gathered at the hospital, Dr Bilal came out of the theatre and began revealing findings of his examination to the crowd. Suddenly, people in the crowd shouted upon Dr Bilal and leveled allegations that he was concealing the “facts” with the motive of taking away blame from CRPF. Youngsters in the gathering refused to accept the official theory of “death by drowning” and insisted that the water level in Rambiara was too low to consume a human life.
The mob turned violent and raised pro-Azadi and anti-CRPF slogans with the allegation that the two young women had been “gang raped and subsequently done to death” by soldiers of a nearby paramilitary encampment. Furious and violent demonstrators manhandled and abused Dr Bilal and some other members of the hospital staff, ransacked the buildings, damaged a number of vehicles and attempted to set on fire an old complex of the hospital. However, Police and fire brigade swung into action and saved the properties from being destroyed. Sources said that the mob ransacked several wards, laboratories and the blood bank.
As soon as the crowds enforced total shutdown at the district headquarters and the situation threatened to turn worse, DC Shopian, Mohammad Ramzan Thakur, and SP Shopian, Javed Matoo, arranged a fresh team of “independent doctors” from Pulwama district.
The team of doctors and forensic science experts from Pulwama---comprising Chief Medical Officer Pulwama Dr Ghulam Qadir Sofi, Dr Mir Maqbool and Dr Nighat---conducted a fresh post mortem, collected necessary samples (including vaginal swab of both the women) and told the DC and SP that a complete FSL and post mortem report would be made available by Monday next.
Even as a fresh team of doctors from Pulwama conducted a fresh autopsy, crowds shouting pro-Azadi, anti-government and anti-India slogans clashed with Police and demanded arrest of the CRPF officials, who, according to them, were involved in the twin “rape-cum-murder”. Sources said that over 20 demonstrators and at least a dozen of Police personnel sustained injuries in the clashes marked by stone pelting, firing in air and tearsmoke. Sources said that the vehicles of three doctors, two ambulances as also two vehicles of Revenue officials and those of a couple of lawyers were damaged in the clashes.
Both the dead bodies were later handed over to the Ahangar family. Reports said that before the burial this evening, nearly 1,000 people participated in the funeral prayers.
SP Shopian, Javed Matoo, told Early Times that Police had registered the FIR and started its investigation which would proceed with the help of post mortem report, likely to be prepared and made available to the authorities by Monday. He said that members of the ill-fated family had insisted on conducting the funeral without an autopsy but it was Police that insisted on the post mortem. He said that there was no trouble in the town until a number of local separatist activists, headed by one Maulvi Tariq, appeared on the scene and began leveling allegations of rape and murder against CRPF.
Asked if there was any circumstantial evidence of rape and murder, SP Shopian said that nothing could be said conclusively in absence of a post mortem report. He confirmed reports that the mob had turned violent as soon as Dr Bilal came out of the theatre and began saying that there was no evidence of physical, including sexual, violence on the two dead bodies.
Meanwhile, head of the radical faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, condemned the killing of two young women in Shopian and called for total shutdown in Kashmir valley on Monday next in protest. He claimed in a statement that Hurriyat had received reports according to which both the females had been gang-raped by CRPF personnel and subsequently done to death. Geelani said that a massive protest through shutdown would force the government to arrest the culprits and punish them according to law. He said that such incidents would continue to happen as long as the Indian armed forced enjoyed immunity under the umbrella of J&K Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
Head of another faction of Hurriyat, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, JKLF Chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and a number of other separatist leaders condemned the incident in their separate statement and demanded a “credible investigation” into the whole episode. PDP MLAs, Abdul Razaq Zawoora and Zahoor Ahmed Mir, and CPI (M) leaders, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami and Mohammad Khalil Naikoo, have also condemned the “twin murder” and demanded constitution of Special Investigation Team.
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