By IANS,
Shopian (Jammu and Kashmir) : A complete shutdown was observed in this tense town in Jammu and Kashmir on the first day of an indefinite strike Wednesday, a day after the finding of the body of an activist fighting for justice after the rape and murder of two women May 30.
Protests rocked the town as life was thrown out of gear and shops, other businesses and schools remained closed. Transport was also off the roads. There was thin attendance in government offices, an official said.
Police said the situation was tense but no untoward incident occurred after the body of Mohammed Hussain Zargar, 42, a property dealer, was discovered Tuesday in an orchard. Zargar was picked up by some unknown people Saturday and had been missing since then.
The alleged murder triggered fresh protests in the town 50 km south of Srinagar.
Shopian has been on the boil after two women — Asiya Jan, 17, and her 22-year-old sister-in-law Neelofar — were found dead near a stream in their village near here May 30.
Zargar was one of the activists of the Shopian Majlis-e-Mashawarat Committee formed to fight for justice in the rape-murder case.
“Mohammed Hussain Zargar was a pro-active member of the Majlis,” committee president Mohammed Shafi Khan told IANS.
Khan said it was suspected he had been picked up by the Special Operations Group of the Kashmir police. “But police have denied it.”
According to Khan, Zargar was found lying in a pool of blood. “We cannot say what kind of injuries he had because police quickly took the body to a hospital.”
Police were awaiting an autopsy report as the cause of Zargar’s death was not known.
The group has called for an indefinite strike in the town to protest the “murder of our activist”, Khan said.
Zargar had announced that he would support the family of the two women.
The twin rape-murder case has seen many twists and turns and it was recently alleged that the DNA samples of the victims had been fudged.
The Jammu and Kashmir government last week said it was ready to recommend a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the crime.
The Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) in New Delhi reportedly found that the DNA profile of tissue cells present in the samples of the women sent by the Jammu and Kashmir police did not match the samples of the victims’ blood and viscera.
The CFSL has sent its findings to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of police.
The autopsies of the women have confirmed that they were raped and murdered. Four police officers have been arrested and are facing charges of destruction, dissipation and suppression of evidence.