Stepmother instigates gangrape of minor girl

Srinagar: There has been widespread outrage in Jammu and Kashmir over the alleged gangrape and murder of a minor girl by four persons, including her step brother. The crime was instigated allegedly by her stepmother, who also oversaw it, the police said, adding that all the five accused have been arrested.

The gruesome incident is reminiscent of the gang-rape and murder of an 8-year-old nomad Bakarwal girl that took place inside a temple in Rasana village of the State’s Kathua district and which had evoked a nationwide outcry.

Director General of Police, Shesh Paul Vaid, on Wednesday tweeted, “A bone chilling story of gang rape and murder of a 9 year old girl in #Uri by her step brother and 2 other accused instigated by her step mother. A case worse than ….. of Rasana Kathua. @JmuKmrPolice has solved the case and arrested all the accused”.

The police said that the 9-year-old girl of Larri Trikanjan village of Boniyar in Uri area in north-western district of Baramulla went missing on August 23 following which her father Mushtaq Ahmed Ganai filed a complaint with the police. On Sunday (September 2), ten days after her disappearance, the mutilated and partly decomposed body of the girl was found in woods barely a kilometre from her home in Uri. The police utilised quadcopters, sniffing dogs and other resources to trace the body.

Baramulla’s SSP Imtiyaz Hussain said that from the examination of the scene and circumstances thereof it appeared to be the case of murder and accordingly an investigation was launched by the police.

During the investigation done by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), a story full of horror and deceit was unfolded. It was found that the victim’s father has two wives—Fahmeeda Bano originally a resident of Trinkanjan village of Baramulla and Khusboo, a non-local from Jharkhand. The latter is the mother of the victim. “The SIT interrogated the suspects and what emerged is a bone-chilling and horrible account of the murder and rape of the child which has shocked everyone,” the SSP said.

It was found that the stepmother (Fahmeeda) had been harbouring a long standing grudge against her husband’s second wife and her children. During questioning, she revealed that her husband would mostly spend time with his second wife and the girl (victim) was dearest to him, the police officer said.

On the fateful day (August 23), Fahmeeda, armed with a knife, took the deceased to the nearby forest and en route signalled her 14-year-old son Sahil to get ready for the crime. The mother-son duo was soon joined by Sahil’s friends Kaiser Ahmad, 19, and Aadil Ahmed, 14, and another person 28-year-old Naseer Ahmad Khan alias Guddo.

The girl was raped first by Kaiser and then her step-brother and the two other persons took turns to vandalise her chastity in presence of and at the instance of her stepmother, Mr. Hussain said. Subsequently, Fahmeeda strangulated the girl and the step-brother hit her head with an axe, killing her on spot. After that one of the accused Aadil went back to his home and brought acid in a plastic bottle. Kaiser first gouge out her eyes with a sharp knife and then poured acid on her body. Later he and Khan dumped the body in the bushes and covered it with twigs and branches of pine trees, the officer said.

The police claimed the weapons of offence, including the axe and knife, have been recovered. The plastic bottle containing acid has also been recovered. The officer said that the physical condition and preliminary forensic analysis of the body substantiated all these facts.

Many people have during the past two days taken to the social media platform demanding death for the accused. Various political parties outraged at the incident have also said that the accused should be given exemplary punishment for committing such heinous crime. “Those involved in this heinous crime must be given exemplary punishment. Every citizen is shocked and outraged by this barbaric incident that has taken place in what was once a simple and humane Kashmir,” said chief Muslim cleric and separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. He added that the Uri incident “has come at a time when entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is grappling with the brutal rape and murder of nomadic girl of Kathua. Those guilty in her rape and murder are yet to be punished and the gruesome incident of Uri has left people of Kashmir once again shaken”.

The Mirwaiz further said the shocking incidents like the one that took place Uri at a place known for upholding religious and social values has left a big question mark as to which direction Kashmiri society is going. “The way the girl was murdered and physically assaulted is a major concern for every citizen of Kashmir and it’s the responsibility of every Kashmiri to take note of such incidents which are a wakeup call about the rising crimes in the Valley,” he said.  End it