Protest in JK against court acquittal to rape accused

A group of girls, who had accused Gulzar Ahmad, a faith healer from central Kashmir's Budgam district of sexually assaulting them, today protested against his acquittal by a local court, saying it was a "total injustice to them".
"The Supreme Court has clearly ruled that if a girl says she has been molested or raped by someone, the accused should be strongly punished," they said.
Gulzar was arrested by the police in May 2013 after a few girls, who were students of a seminary run by him, accused the faith healer of rape.
However, Gulzar was acquitted by a Principal Sessions Court on Thursday after it observed that the prosecution had "miserably failed" to prove him guilty.

Terming Gulzar's release as "injustice", the girls said they were going to appeal against the decision in the High Court.
We had recorded their statements with the court and produced medical certificates but it did not give any weight to those, they alleged.
"We had produced our medical tests as well but that too were not considered by the court so we have decided to approach the High court against the verdict," they said.