Commission's purpose of Shopian inquiry defeated: Justice Jan

Justice Muzaffar Ahmad Jan probing the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir today accepted that the very purpose of the Commission was defeated as prime culprits were still not identified.

Justice Muzaffar Ahmad Jan probing the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir today accepted that the very purpose of the Commission was defeated as prime culprits were still not identified.

HT Image

"I feel sorry. If the culprit was apprehended then of course it would have been a complete success. You cannot create evidence. You have to wait. Commission does compel anyone to depose," Jan, who is a retired judge of the J&K High Court, told PTI in a telephonic interview.

He was answering to a question whether the purpose of the Commission was defeated as prime culprits were yet to be identified.

He also chose to distance himself from some annexures in his report, questioning the behaviour of brother and husband of Neelofar -one of the victims, which generated controversy in the valley.

"That is not my report...Unfortunately...what has happened is that the investigating team, our police investigating team have also prepared their investigating report which I did not accept, which I did not take on record, which I did not include in the main report," he said when asked about some portions of his report which generated anger in the valley.

When asked specifically why he submitted those annexures if they were not part of his report, Jan tried to defend himself saying,"...that is all right annexures were there but I have not incorporated anything in the report. You see, if somebody puts up an application before the court, the court keeps the application on the file. We don't clear off the application. The fact is that we have not taken anything from the report."