A division bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Wednesday questioned the Omar Abdullah government’s decision to hand over the Shopian rape and murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The bench felt the move might be an attempt by the government to wash its hand of the case and reserved its judgment on the matter.
Nelofar Jan (22) and her sister-in-law Asiya Jan (17) of Shopian, 50 km south of Srinagar, were raped and murdered on May 29. Their bodies were found in a stream outside Shopian the next day.
The division bench, comprising Chief Justice Barin Ghosh and Justice Mohammad Yaqoob, has been monitoring investigations into the case on the basis of a public interest litigation filed by the High Court Bar Association.
The rape-cum-murder case had rocked Jammu & Kashmir for about six weeks, with a complete shutdown in Shopian till the high court assured the people that it would ensure that the guilty are be brought to book.