By IANS,
Srinagar : The Jammu and Kashmir High Court Friday cleared the decks for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the Shopian rape and murder of two women that triggered public outrage across the valley.
A division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Barin Ghosh and Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the local bar association passed an order saying that the court was leaving it for the state government to decide if it wanted the CBI to investigate the May 30 crime.
“We feel it is up to the government to decide through which agency it would have the crime investigated. We accordingly leave the matter entirely to the discretion of the state government. We make it amply clear that none of our orders shall stand in the way of the government’s move,” the court observed.
The state government had moved an application before the court maintaining that it was ready to have the Shopian rape and murder investigated by the CBI if the court allowed the plea.
The state government had earlier informed the state assembly that it was ready to have the case investigated by the CBI if it was needed to bring those responsible for the crime to justice.
Two women, Nilofar Jan, 22, and her sister-in-law Asiya Jan, 17, were raped and murdered in south Kashmir’s Shopian district and their bodies were found by the side of a local stream outside the town on May 30.
Four police officers, including then district police chief, a deputy superintendent of police, an inspector and a sub-inspector, were suspended and later arrested by the government for negligence of duty and destruction of vital evidence in the case that triggered a public outrage across the Valley.
The high court had earlier ordered the DNA sampling and narco-analysis of the accused officers to unearth the truth about their involvement in the crime.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Friday he would instruct the special investigating team (SIT) probing the crime to work round the clock before the case was taken over by the CBI.