Series of blunders over 12 days

The first reaction from the police officials was,many said,bizarre. Not only did the police want to make it an 8220;open and shut8221; case by saying drowning could have been the possible cause,a press release ruled any kind of violence,in spite of the badly bruised state in which the bodies were found.

The police reaction circulated on May 30 said there were no marks of violence on the bodies. A badly worded press release,quoting Superintendent of Police of Shopian,said: 8220;Post mortem conducted revealed no marks of violence on the dead bodies including pubic parts.8221;

The press release said the two women,the pregnant Neelofar and her sister-in-law Asiya Jan,8221;went to an orchard at 4 pm on May 29 and did not return8221;. It said the case was reported at midnight and the police recovered the bodies at 6 pm the next day. The post mortem was conducted that day itself,the press release added.

After sometime,however,another police press release cancelled the earlier release. But the police still did not want to admit anything wrong.

It was only on June 7,after a series of protests that only seemed to grow with each passing day,that the police for the first time admitted something was wrong. The admission this time came in a cautiously worded press release,saying 8220;cognizable offence had taken place8221;. 8220;The interim medical report received indicated prima facie cognizable offence has taken place and a case has been registered,8221; it said. However the release said medical opinion into the cause of the death was still awaited.

On June 8,Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda ordered the constitution of a three-member special investigation team 8220;for expeditious investigation of the case regarding alleged rape and subsequent death of two women at Shopian8221;. This was in spite of the June 6 Forensic Science Laboratory report confirming presence of sperm in the vaginal smears of the two women.

President of the Bar Association of Jammu and Kashmir Mian Abdul Qayoom said the police could have prevented all the outrage on the very first day. 8220;What was the need of all of this? They had seen the bodies marks were visible but still they said there was no violence. There was visible head injury,clothes were torn. Couldn8217;t they understand the gravity of the situation?8221; he said. 8220;They could have assured the people that the culprits would be brought to book,and things would have not taken an ugly turn.8221;

8220;Some police officials said it was suicide,then there was the poisoning theory. Later,the Divisional Commissioner said it was drowning,8221; said Qayoom.