Shopian case: Exhumation of bodies ordered

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Saturday directed exhumation of the bodies of two women allegedly raped and murdered in Shopian last month to collect their DNA samples subject to the consent of their family.

Noting that the DNA report is missing and post-mortem was done in a proper way, a division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Barin Gosh and Justice Mohammad Yaqub Mir ordered exhumation of the bodies of Asiya and Nelofar.

Justice Gosh directed the principal of medical college Srinagar to set up a team of doctors to perform the tests.

"This is a sensational matter. Every man on the street, irrespective of caste or creed, is praying for the culprits to be caught," he observed.

The case has sparked massive protests in the Kashmir Valley. The court appointed inspector general of police (CID) Farooq Ahmad as special officer inquiry and DIG Rouf-ul-Hassan as his deputy to monitor the proceedings of the special investigation team inquiring into the case.

Ahmad is at present carrying out an internal departmental probe into alleged negligence of duty by four suspended police officials including the former Superintendent of Police, Shopian.

The court also directed the SIT headed by SP Shah Din Malik to interrogate and carry out narco-analysis test of four suspended police officials and two witnesses.

It asked the SIT to submit its progress report every week to the court. The orders were passed by the court after hearing the arguments of Kashmir High Court Bar Association which had filed a public interest litigation on the Shopian incident.