2009 ‘Shopian Rape-Murder’ case: Two Kashmir doctors fired for ‘fabricated evidence’

Asiya Jan and Neelofar were found dead in a stream in Shopian on May 30, 2009, leading to allegations that they had been raped and murdered by security personnel.

Srinagar: Fourteen years after a CBI investigation exposed the conspiracy behind the 2009 “Shopian rape murder” case, the government of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday terminated the services of two doctors over alleged “active collaboration” with Pakistan-based groups and fabricating evidence, officials said.

Two women, Asiya Jan and Neelofar, were found dead in a stream in Shopian on May 30, 2009, sparking allegations that they had been raped and murdered by security personnel. Four police officers have been arrested in connection with the case.

It also led to the unceremonious resignation of top police forces, including then Special Director General of Police Ashok Bhan and then Inspector General (Kashmir) B Srinivasan.

The incident sparked protests in the Kashmir valley and brought it to a near standstill for 42 days. Later, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the investigation and found that the two women had never been raped or murdered.

The two doctors, Dr Bilal Ahmad Dalal and Dr Nighat Shaheen Chilloo, have been fired for “working actively” with Pakistan and conspiring with their assets in Kashmir to falsify the autopsy report of Asiya Jan and Neelofar of Shopian, who had sadly died as a result of accidental drowning on May 29, 2009, officials said.

The ultimate aim of the two doctors was to create discontent against the Indian state by falsely accusing the security forces of rape and murder, they said.

The two doctors were dismissed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha under Article 311 of the Constitution. According to this provision, government officials can be fired without any investigation.

The LG is satisfied after considering the facts and circumstances of the case and based on the available information, that the activities of Dalal, medical officer, New Type Primary Health Center (NTPHC), Shopian and Chilloo, consultant gynecologist in Sub-It district hospital in Chadoora justifies their dismissal from service, official orders said.

Dalal and Chilloo are among 13 people charged by the CBI in December 2009. A hearing in the case is yet to take place as almost all the accused have individually approached the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir.

The two doctors have been charged by the CBI with fabricating evidence and misrepresenting accidental death due to drowning as rape and murder.

Dalal was the first doctor to perform an autopsy of the bodies, while Chilloo was part of the second team of doctors to conduct post-mortem examinations, the officials said.

In a gross violation of medical ethics, Chilloo took vaginal swabs from two women admitted to her hospital and projected them to belong to Asiya Jan, who she claimed was raped and murdered, they said.

However, an AIIMS forensic team consisting of Dr TD Dogra and Dr Anupama Raina had the bodies exhumed and found that Asiya Jan’s hymen was intact. The same reports were part of the CBI indictment form, they said.

In December 2009, the CBI concluded that the two women had not been raped or murdered.

The CBI charged six doctors, five lawyers and two civilians, including the brother of one of the deceased women, with falsifying evidence.

Five police officers were arrested in connection with the case and subsequent protests.

The 66-page CBI report cleared the police officers, who served approximately 47 days in jail in connection with the case and against whom a state-appointed judicial commission had brought charges of destroying evidence, of all charges.

The CBI report accused the 13 suspects of hatching a criminal conspiracy to incite public anger against the security forces.

Since no rape or murder occurred, the CBI report concluded there was no case. It said the lawyers hatched a conspiracy and forced two individuals to become witnesses.

The CBI report gave a detailed account of how the two were coerced by the lawyers and some relatives of Shakeel Ahanger, the husband of one of the deceased women.

The agency also rejected the theory of the Majlis-s-Maashwarat, an amalgam of separatist groups spearheading the agitation in Shopian, that the two women were kidnapped, raped and killed when they went to their orchard on May 29, 2009.

According to the CBI, the two women drowned trying to cross the river.

AIIMS doctors who performed post-mortem examinations on the exhumed bodies found the same diatoms (algae) in the lungs of two women found in the area where the bodies were found.

The CBI investigation found that both teams of doctors lied in the autopsy reports. The first team of doctors said that Asiya Jan died due to cardiac arrest and Neelofar died due to neurogenic shock.

The second team of doctors from Pulwama claimed that Asiya Jan was sexually assaulted and died due to bleeding and shock caused by bleeding from multiple injuries. Neelofar, the team had claimed, died as a result of neurogenic shock following intercourse.

The CBI report quoted the medical opinion of AIIMS doctors who conclusively stated that the deaths occurred “due to asphyxiation resulting from ante-mortem drowning”. They said the lacerated wound on Asiya Jan’s forehead was not enough to cause death.

(Only the headline has been reworked by India.com staff. Copy is from a syndicated feed)