Shopian: Who will tell the truth?

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdulla has finally admitted that something has gone wrong in Shopian. He apologized for the mistake and promised to bring the culprits to book. Nobody knows, what led him to this revelation after three months same as nobody knows, what really happened to those two unfortunate women, who found dead on a fine morning.


On the fateful day of May 2, 2009, Nilofar Jan and Asiya Jan, two women in Shopian village didn’t return home till late evening. Nilofar’s husband Shakeel Ahamed and a few police men searched for them till late night but could not find anything. Next day morning, while waiting outside the police station, Shakeel was informed that the bodies have been found on a river bed. He rushed to the spot and found his wife’s body hand outstretched and cloths torn. Later his sister Asiya’s body also found in similar condition. Curiously, both bodies were found on the bed of stream, where they had searched intensively on previous night.
The first reports said it was deaths by drowning. But the crowd refused to buy the police version. A second post mortem was done and the female doctor confirmed the gang rape…. “They were animals” she said. The Justice Jan Commission enquired the case and concluded it as case of death by drowning but later confirmed the police interpolations in the commission report.
The Shopian murder case has become a classic example of the truth being shaped by the way is it’s narrated.

On June 7 NDTV reported ….The post-mortem report confirm the presence of semen on both bodies, but does no draw a firm conclusion on murder saying the probable cause of deaths was haemorrhage and neurogenic shock. The report said the doctors who were to conduct the post-mortem could not complete their report because of hostile atmosphere and the post-mortem report was inconclusive.


The Hindu wrote ….The investigators have no firm determination on how the victims died, no medical opinion on whether the injuries were caused by weapons or stones in the river bed, no forensic finding on whether one of more persons were involved in the rape and all of the forensic evidence on record is vitiated by the doctor’s admissions that the post-mortem was incomplete and carried out under pressure. The report also quoted an SIT official saying …. “You could come to almost any conclusion you fancy, take your pick.”
The Indian Express report goes like this.... The first reaction from the police was, many said, bizarre. Not only did the police want to make it an “open and shut” case by saying drowning could have been the possible cause. A press release ruled out any kind of violence, in spite of the badly bruised state in which the bodies were found. Later, police came out with another press release, canceling the first one, but did not admit anything wrong. After series of protests, police admitted some thing was wrong. The second press release said the interim medical report received indicated prima facie cognizable offence has taken place.
On June 13 the Indian Express again reported…. The initial claim by officials that the women had drowned was negated by the first medical examination-doctors didn’t find either body in a condition that suggested drowning. Moreover, it was difficult to believe that the two women would have drowned in ankle-deep water.
On June 12 Mail Today wrote…. The Chief Minister Omar Abdullah blindly chose to go with the initial police version describing it was a death by drowning.

Later, severely criticising the media, The Hindu wrote…both the journalists and the J&K government have maintained a stoic silence on the observation of the Justice Jan Commission. The Commission said many of the media reports on the incidents were grossly fabricated.

It gave a few examples: Just before the incident the victims called her husband saying she was being chased by the CRPF personnel. In the testimony to the commission the husband admitted that his wife never had a mobile.
The police constable who searched for the bodies received many calls from his boss indicating his unduly interest in the case. The commission found there were only four calls during the whole operation.
Media strongly tend to propagate the gang rape version, the commission report say there were no evidence of gang rape.
Newspapers reported the victim’s forehead was smeared with sindoor….indicating the culprit was a Hindu. The commission says it was just blood flown from the injury.

If the so called credible media brands report the same incident contradicting each other, to whom people will turn for truth?

The credibility of legislature and executive is a thing of past and judiciary has proved that it’s not immune to the virus. Now the fourth estate shows that a few hygienic practices and a simple mask are insufficient to protect them from the flu.

Food for thought:
The government acted swiftly when the exotic swine flu claimed a few lives across the country. How many more deaths need to be reported from Kashmir to contain the indigenous virus which has inflicted the whole system of administration?