Handwara girl claims Army man held her hand, NC wants judicial probe

Alleges police intimidated her to blame local boys for molestation

Handwara girl claims Army man held her handIn a new twist to the Handwara incident, the minor girl has now claimed an Army man had forcibly held her hand on April 12 when she was coming out of a public toilet located in the main town square.

Seeking registration of an FIR against the unknown soldier for “sexual assault”, the girl told the media during a press conference today that the J&K Police had “pressurised, abused and intimidated” her to make a different statement once she was taken inside the Handwara police station following the incident.
This is the first time the minor girl, who is at the centre of a controversy involving an allegation of molestation by an Army man, has come out before the media since the incident took place over a month ago on April 12. A day after the Handwara incident on April 13, the Army had officially released a blurred video of the girl in which she had denied the molestation charge against an Army man.

Massive protests were witnessed in the area and five civilians were killed in the security forces firing in Handwara and Kupwara between April 12 and 15.

“As I was coming out of the washroom, an Army soldier forcibly held my hand. I screamed and ran away,” said the girl, accompanied by her father and mother.

She said that soon after a crowd gathered at the spot, following which she was whisked away by one policeman, whom she identified as Shafi, to the local police station, where she was “abused and threatened”. She said one police official, Mohsin, even spat at her. She claimed that she was pressurised to change her statement and asked by the police to blame the local boys for the molestation.
She said the Superintendent of Police, Handwara, recorded her video statement on his mobile phone “against her consent” and “under duress” she stated what she was told by the police to say.
Prior to recording her statement before a magistrate on April 16, she said that she and her father were pressurised by the police to stick to the version recorded in the video and were also told that the video was already on the internet and that their lives were now under threat.

Meanwhile, Opposition National Conference (NC) today demanded judicial probe into the Handwara incident of alleged molestation in the wake of the purported victim’s allegation that police had “pressurised” her to give a clean chit to an army man.

“The girl’s statement came today where she said she was abused by the policemen, one of whom spat on her. Her statement now, her video statement (earlier), the army’s statement (earlier), the police statement and the statement in the court, all this has become a mixture and no one knows anything,” NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar told reporters at party headquarters here.   “That is why NC had and is demanding a judicial probe to clear the air and present the reality,” he added.      His demand came after a veil-wearing girl, presented by an NGO as the one who was at the centre of Handwara protests of last month, claimed that police had “pressurised” her to make a statement before a magistrate in which she exonerated an army man of molestation charges.

Handwara town and adjoining areas of Kupwara district of Kashmir had erupted last month after allegations that a 16-year-old girl had been molested by an army man.

Later, in a video-recorded “statement” released by police and a statement to a magistrate, the girl had said no soldier was involved in any molestation and had blamed a local boy for misbehaving with her.   NC MLA from Habbakadal constituency of Srinagar Shameema Firdous criticized the silence of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on the issue.   “The State Women’s Commission said it has taken up the matter with the Chief Minister, but it is unfortunate that she herself has not spoken on this. She should say what actually happened with the girl so that people get to know about it,” Shameema said.   Sagar said his party would raise the issues of “weakening” of the state’s special status and plans to set up colonies for Kashmiri Pandits besides other matters in the upcoming session of the Assembly.   “We will raise the issue of National Food Security Act, Sainik Colony issue, new Industrial Policy and establishment of separate ghettos for Kashmiri Pandits, in the assembly. We will raise the issue of weakening of Article 370 and the special status of the state, he said.

 

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