By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
Srinagar: A month after the alleged molestation of a local school girl in Handwara which sparked state-wide protests that led to the death of five civilians, a new twist has emerged in the case after the victim addressed a press conference in Srinagar on Monday, May 16.
The girl claimed molestation by an army man in public bathroom on April 12 last month and accused the police officers of forcing her to give the fabricated statement, besides verbally abusing and slapping her.
“Police coerced me to say things they wanted. They kept on abusing me. I was crying, they kept coming and abusing me. One policeman, named Mohsin, also spit on me,” the girl said in a press conference flanked by her father and mother.
While briefing the events happened during that day, she said, “That day I was assaulted by an army man at a public toilet. I hurriedly ran out of the toilet and a crowd gathered at the spot immediately. A policeman named Mohammad Shafi began to drag me to the police station against my will and abused me verbally.”
She further alleged that the SP Handwara, Ghulam Jeelani recorded her statement on his mobile phone. The video later went viral on internet, raising serious apprehensions about her safety.
“The SP wanted to record my statement on his mobile phone. He promised not to make it public. Threatened by the policemen, without putting any blame on the army and without mentioning what army man had done to me outside the public toilet, I repeated what they had asked me to say,” she told the press reporters.
The police kept her for 27 days under the name of ‘protection’ and she was released only after the court intervened.
Earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) had also alleged that she has given both her statements (first one to the police and the second one to the magistrate) under pressure.