More questions have come to haunt the Shopian murder and rape case in the wake of the CBI’s exhumation of the two bodies.

While a forensic examination is said to have found that 17-year-old Aasiya Jan, the younger of the two victims, had her hymen intact, a doctor who conducted the first set of tests is said to have admitted to an alleged cover-up.

“The CBI team showed us (Aasiya’s) hymen. But I told them it still doesn’t rule out sexual assault or an attempt to rape,” said Ghulam Qadir Khan of the Mushawarat Majlis-e-Committee, the ad hoc body of village elders which led the 47-day agitation demanding justice for the victims. “We will wait for the result (of the forensic examination) to come. And then we will respond,” Khan said.

Several representatives of the Mushawarat were present when a team of senior forensic experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences exhumed the bodies and carried out a series of tests. Significantly, the Mushawarat has acknowledged that it has “trust” in the CBI and that procedures were carried out in a “transparent manner”.

Aasiya, 17, was found dead in a stream along with her sister-in-law Neelofar, 22, on May 30. It was alleged they had been raped and killed by security forces.

Khan said there was “no doubt” about the fact that the women had been murdered. “There is a grievous injury on the skull of Aasiya which may turn out to be the likely cause of her death,” he said.

... contd.