Justice Muzaffar Jan, who probed the rape and murder of two women in Shopian, has courted controversy by asserting that parts of his report speculating about the possible role of the victims in the crime were not his. He says the controversial sections were part of a discarded report prepared by the police team working with him, which had mysteriously found its way into the final report — a claim the police team strongly contests. In an interview to Riyaz Wani, Justice Jan directly blames the J-K police for a role in this “masterpiece of a crime”. He says the destruction of evidence by police officials was not the result of only incompetence but also part of an overall effort to “hide something”.

You have said that parts of the report, which blame the victims, are not yours. Who has prepared these portions?

These parts belong to the police investigating team working with me. The team had presented this report to me. But I rejected it. It was full of insinuation, based on wrong information and unfounded assumptions about the victims. It was never part of my report. My report doesn’t dwell on the character of the victims. I didn’t insult anybody.

But wasn’t the police team part of the judicial commission headed by you. How can their report be separate from yours? They were not doing any parallel investigation.

The police team was part of the commission. But we interviewed witnesses separately. While I invited witnesses over to the Circuit House, where I was staying, the police team went to the field to interview people. I interviewed 40 witnesses. They interviewed 60 witnesses. My report is based on my own interviews alone while the police report is drawn from their interviews. The police report sets parameters for further consumption. It was not for public consumption. However, I refused to take their report on board. I said, ‘We don’t need it’. I didn’t file anything that was reflected there.

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