Harassment of minority girl in Kashmir: Cops register case, question suspects

Police have registered a case in connection with the alleged stabbing and harassment of a girl belonging to the minority Sikh community and studying at a university in south Kashmir, and started questioning the suspects.

The girl, studying at the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Awantipora, in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, has alleged she was stabbed by unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants last week.

The girl, a resident of Tral, also alleged that a group of students, including a woman, put pressure on her to offer prayers during the fasting month of Ramzan and mentally tortured her for the past one month to convert.

A case has been registered and investigations taken up, a police official said.

Some of them have been detained. We are questioning them, the official said, refusing to share further details.

Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police S P Vaid confirmed that the police were investigating the matter. Case registered. Suspect has been identified and being questioned, Vaid wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah appealed to the police and university authorities to look into the issue.

The authorities, both at IUST & the @JmuKmrPolice/@JKgrievance need to look into this & address it. Denying anything happened without even a cursory investigation is not the way to instill confidence, he wrote on Twitter.

A statement from the university refuted the allegations of harassment of the student.

The university refutes all allegations and requests all the civilised citizens of the country to not take any heed to any rumours and conspiracies of all those mischievous elements who are always there to create mistrust and dilute the harmony and diversity of the country. These elements are trying to further their selfish interests by creating a divide in society through propaganda, the statement said.