SRINAGAR: Thousands of angry, slogan-shouting protesters took to the streets in Indian Kashmir on Tuesday, a day after federal police investigating the deaths of two women said they drowned and were not raped and killed as alleged by locals.
The deaths of Neelofar Jan, 22, and her sister-in-law, 17-year-old Asiya Jan, in May ignited violent protests in the disputed Himalayan region.
The two women disappeared as they walked home from their family’s apple orchard in Shopian, a town 60 km south of Indian Kashmir’s main city Srinagar.
Local authorities initially said the women drowned when they found their bodies one kilometer apart along a shallow stream on May 30, but police later said the two had been raped and killed.
Four police officers were later arrested on charges of suppressing and destroying evidence in the case. The officers were freed in September, a move that further angered residents.
Federal investigators were called in to solve the crime in September after weeks of violent protests across Indian Kashmir that left at least two people dead and 400 injured.
India’s Central Bureau of Investigation said on Monday its probe showed the women died from drowning and it also charged 13 people with fabricating evidence and intimidating witnesses in order to reach the conclusion that the women were raped and killed.
On Tuesday, thousands of people gathered in the main square in Shopian chanting, “We want freedom” and “Sisters, we are ashamed that your killers are still free.”
In Srinagar and at least three other towns the protests turned violent as rock-throwing crowds clashed with troops who responded with bamboo batons and tear gas.
Confrontations left 18 protesters and six soldiers with injuries, a police officer said on condition of anonymity citing policy.
In Shopian and Srinagar, shops and businesses stayed shut and public transport remained off the streets in response to a strike called by the Majlis-e-Mashawarat, a local group demanding justice for the two women. The strike is also supported by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, head of the All-Parties’ Hurriyat Conference, an alliance of separatist groups in the region.
On Tuesday, Mirwaiz called the CBI report politically motivated and said he supported the Majlis-e-Mashawarat’s call for an independent international probe into the deaths.
