The J&K government today indicted four suspended police officials, including a Superintendent of Police, in the Shopian double rape and murder case and decided to register cases against them for “destruction, dissipation and suppression of evidence.”

While this was ostensibly based on the recommendations of an inquiry commission headed by Justice (retd) Muzaffar Jan, a close reading of his report shows that it raises more questions than it answers.

For, its needle of suspicion swings widely — from the “role” of police and security personnel to the victim’s “estranged brother,” her husband’s “loose character,” a “rift” in the family to even the two victims’ behaviour and the “possibility” of one of them “developing some relation with others.”

However, accepting the 150-page report submitted on July 7, J&K Finance and Law Minister Abdul Rahim Rather said that follow-up action had started.

“On the recommendations of the commission, the government has decided that the four police personnel, already under suspension, are to be arrayed as accused in the FIR 112/09 dated June 6, 2009 registered with Police Station Shopian...A case will also be registered against Javid Iqbal Mattoo, the then SP for giving false evidence before the commission,”

The bodies of Neelofar Jan, 22, and her sister-in-law, Asiya Jan, 17, were found in a stream in Shopian on May 30. The government backtracked after claiming initially that the women had drowned. Doctors confirmed that the women had been raped and murdered.

This is echoed by the commission: “The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the death of both Neelofar and Asiya has not been because of any natural cause but both girls were murdered with the aim to destroy evidence after rape.”

... contd.