J&K former minister still at large; docs' body alleges police inaction

Jammu and Kashmir's former minister of state (MoS) for health Shabir Ahmad Khan, who is accused of molesting a doctor at his office in the Srinagar civil secretariat, remained elusive for the second day today.

Jammu and Kashmir's former minister of state (MoS) for health Shabir Ahmad Khan, who is accused of molesting a doctor at his office in the Srinagar civil secretariat, remained elusive for the second day on Sunday, even as a Srinagar-based doctors' body claimed that the police were delaying Khan's arrest, so that he could destroy evidence and pressure witnesses in the molestation case registered against him on Thursday.

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The Srinagar chief judicial magistrate had issued an arrest warrant against Khan on Saturday, a day after he resigned as the MoS of health. "The police are allowing the ex-minister to destroy evidence and pressure witnesses," said Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) president Dr Nisar ul Hassan on Sunday.

Khan is accused of indecent language and making sexual advances at a doctor in his office at the Srinagar civil secretariat. Khan is believed to be in hiding in Jammu. "How can the police be clueless about Khan's whereabouts when he has round-the-clock security? This is a joke," said Hassan.

The DAK also described Congress MP Choudhary Lal Singh's questioning of the delay in the doctor filing the molestation complaint as "objectionable". "Instead of showing sympathy with the victim and denouncing the perpetrator, he has blamed and demonised the victim," Hassan said.