Shopian tragedy: The tale gets murkier

Shopian tragedy: The tale gets murkier

Posted: 03 Oct 2009 05:30 AM PDT
J&K is a case study of how partisan and sectarian conclusions are drawn to fuel anti-India sentiments.
By Sunita Vakil
Now that the sensational twist in the Shopian double murder case has nailed the lie of the earlier "truth", it is the responsibility of the administration to bring the culprits to book. What does it show if not that there have been bunglings at various levels of investigation into the tragic occurrence? Indeed, facts have been fudged and forensic samples tampered with in a bid to hide the truth and cover up real culprits. Each new investigation has brought its own set of twists and turns, obscuring the mystery further. Investigators are supposed to unravel the truth and bring the perpetrators of crime to justice. But instead we find our investigating authorities including policemen, medical professionals, administrative officers and others manipulating the truth to cover up the gruesome crime. It goes without saying that the state government's complacency leaves a lot to be desired. Infact, the Omar Abdullah government cannot escape responsibility as his mishandling of the case has had the valley in turmoil for over four months. This, despite the government's categorical assurance in the legislature that culprits will be arrested. "Government would not hide any information and punish the culprits severely. I stand firmly for my promise and reassure the people on this day that the persons behind this heinous crime would not be allowed to go scot-free," the Chief Minister had stated. A Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief justice Bharin Gosh and Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir had left no doubt about their intentions of revealing truth at any cost. But clearly, with "new facts" coming to the surface, the tail is getting murkier by the day. Jeremy Collier has well said "We must not let go manifest truths because we cannot answer all questions about them." Definitely, adopting an analytical approach based on the available facts would be a good beginning. Viewed in this context, the handing over the case to the CBI is a step in the right direction.
For the past few months, the valley has been swept by a volent agitation following the alleged murder of the two young woman. But the political response has evoked doubt and suspicion at best. It was indeed the duty of the state government to go after the culprits and those shielding them. But that has not been the case. Although it is a fact that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, fearing a severe backlash ordered a judicial probe into the crime, it also cannot be denied that there were more attempts to prevent the truth from coming out than carrying out an unbiased, objective analysis of the known facts. With the revelation that the DNA samples sent for testing had been fiddled with, the credibility of the state investigation team comes into question. It is quite bewildering that the doctors who conducted autopsies on the victims were non-specialists. The autopsies were performed in an unprofessional manner and were not videotaped. Also, there was much delay in registering the FIR. The commission of enquiry appointed to unravel the truth only added to the conclusion. In short, the over zealousness of the authorities to protect the interests of their patrons as well as mounting public pressure led to manipulated quick fire results. That there was destruction of vital evidence like body-fluids, stains, fingerprints, etc has even been admitted by the special investigation team as well as the Jan Commotion. And the most important cardinal rule that the investigators gave a quite burial to is that in such cases, it is not advisable to proceed with preconceived judgement.
And undoubtedly, it is here that the government seems to have failed in Shopian case which led to widespread unrest in the valley. The issue has become a rallying point for the opposition in J&K to question the government on the fabrication of the victim's DNA samples as well as the case being handed over to the CBI.
It goes without saying that holding previously believed theories is equally untenable. Given the witch-hunt against the security forces in the valley, locals suspected the wrong- doing to be the handiwork of CRPF men. The results of the two previous autopsies conduc- ted by the state authorities were also juggled with to appear like compelling facts confirming the suspicion. Earlier in June, all parties Hurrriyat Confrence Chairman Sayed Alishah Geelani had brought life in Shopian to a standstill for 47 days by protesting over the deaths. But there has been found to be no conclusive evidence of rape of the victims. That much has been established by the CBI that conducted a postmortem on their exhumed bodies after a doctor connected with the case confirmed that she had not taken vaginal swabs from the bodies.
It seems to be a paradox of sorts that though the people of J&K record robust participation in elections, there is clearly a separatism streak simmering below the surface which invariably gives a lie to New Delhi’s boasting of having restored a democratic order in the state. These underlying tensions come to the fore whenever some incidents trigger mass protests, be it the Amarnath land deal issue or the current one. Such incidents take an anti-India hue and are used by separatists to mobilise opinion against India. Infact, J&K is a test case of how partisan and sectarian conclusions are drawn to fuel anti-India sentiments. Following the CBI's confirmation that one of the victims died a virgin and the rape of the second one seems a remote possibility judging by the nature of injuries, the Hurrriyat has emerged with egg on its face. It was for this reason that the Kashmir High Court Bar Association, a body of seccessionist lawyers, hastily retreated from legal procedures. But at the same time, the state government and the Majlis-e-Mushawarat together with victim's relatives have expressed full faith in CBI investigator.
Though, it is not yet known who the real culprits are, honesty demands an unbiased approach to unravel a case where unfortunately not much forensic evidence is available. In the words of Stopford A brooke, "if a thousand old beliefs were ruined in our march to truth we must still march on", we have to explore all options in the search for truth. In this context, Mr. T.D. Dogra, Head of Department of Forensic medicine and toxicology at the AIIMS has already indicated that the case may soon see a "conclusive finding".