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| South Kashmir shuts down over Shopian | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Sept 12: A day after the High Court granted bail to the four accused cops in Shopian twin rape and murder case, the South Kashmir districts of Valley today observed complete shutdown in protest against the alleged failure of the government to identify and arrest the culprits in the rape and murder of two young girls of Shopian in May.
Educational institutions, semi government establishments and business activities remained paralysed in Shopian and Pulwama in south Kashmir and Sopore in north Kashmir today in response to the call given by Majlis-e-Mushawarat, a non-political body fighting for justice for the victims of the rape and murder in Shopian.
However, there was no report of any violence during the strike, officials said.
People in Shopian, Pulwama and Sopore held peaceful demonstrations denouncing authorities for not taking serious steps to arrest the culprits responsible for the rape and murder of Asiya (17) and her sister-in-law Neelofar (22) whose bodies were found in Shopian on May 30 after they went missing a day earlier.
Tension gripped Shopian yesterday soon after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court granted bail to four police officers including former superintendent of police Javed Ahmad Mattoo arrested for allegedly destroying evidence in the double rape and murder case. The four were let off from Humhama police station late in the evening.
Majlis-e-Mushawarat took a serious exception to the court order and called for a general strike throughout Kashmir valley as a protest against the bail granted to the four policemen.
"The four police officers hold the key to the mystery behind the rape and murder of two women. They need to be interrogated to unveil the truth but by granting them the bail, the court has closed this option," Spokesman of Majlis-e-Mushawarat Mohammad Shafi Khan said.
"How long the government and its agencies will deceive the people of Kashmir. The government from day one tried its best to shield the culprits and the police followed suit," he said. Khan said had the police acted independently, it should have registered an FIR immediately and collected evidence and brought to book the culprits.
"The four police officers destroyed the evidence, exhibiting derelection of duty in our opinion." "On what basis the court granted the bail to the accused is beyond our understanding. They are the real culprits," he said and termed the court decision as a "serious attempt to hush up the case".
"We have decided to call for a complete strike today to protest the court's decision, callousness of the government and negligence of Police in handling the case," Khan said.
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