Two doctors dismissed for fabricating evidence in 2009 ‘Shopian rape-murder’ case

STATE TIMES NEWS

Srinagar: Fourteen years after a CBI probe unearthed the conspiracy behind the 2009 “Shopian rape-murder” case, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Thursday terminated services of two doctors for allegedly “actively working” with Pakistan-based groups and fabricating evidence, according to officials.
Two women, Asiya Jan and Neelofar, were found dead in a stream in Shopian on May 30, 2009, leading to allegations that they were raped and murdered by security personnel. Four policemen were arrested in connection with the case.
It also led to the unceremonious exit of top police brass including the then special director general of police Ashok Bhan and the then inspector general (Kashmir) B Srinivasan.
The incident sparked protests in the Kashmir valley and brought it to a near standstill for 42 days. Later, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe and found that the two women were never raped or murdered.
The two doctors, Dr Bilal Ahmad Dalal and Dr Nighat Shaheen Chilloo, stand dismissed from service for “actively working” with Pakistan and hatching a conspiracy with its assets within Kashmir to falsify the post-mortem report of Asiya Jan and Neelofar of Shopian, who had unfortunately died due to accidental drowning on May 29, 2009, the officials said.
The ultimate aim of the two doctors was to create disaffection against the Indian state by falsely accusing the security forces of rape and murder, they said.
The two doctors have been dismissed by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha under Article 311 of the Constitution. Under this provision, government officers can be dismissed summarily without any enquiry.
The LG is satisfied after considering the facts and circumstances of the case and on the basis of the information available, that the activities of Dalal, medical officer, New Type Primary Health Centre (NTPHC), Shopian, and Chilloo, consultant gynaecologist in Sub-District Hospital, Chadoora are such as to warrant their dismissal from service, official orders stated.
Dalal and Chilloo are among 13 people who were charge-sheeted by the CBI in December 2009. A hearing in the case is yet to take place because almost all of the accused had approached the Jammu and Kashmir High Court separately.
The two doctors have been charge-sheeted by the CBI for fabricating evidence and twisting the accidental deaths due to drowning as rape and murder.
Dalal was the first doctor to conduct an autopsy of the bodies, whereas Chilloo was a part of the second team of doctors that conducted post-mortem examination, the officials said.
In a gross violation of medical ethics, Chilloo took vaginal swabs of two women admitted in her hospital and projected them to be of Asiya Jan, who she had claimed was raped and murdered, they said.
However, an AIIMS forensic team comprising Dr T D Dogra and Dr Anupama Raina got the bodies exhumed and found that Asiya Jan’s hymen was intact. The same reports were part of the CBI charge sheet, they said.
In December 2009, the CBI concluded that the two women were neither raped nor murdered.
The CBI filed the charge sheet against six doctors, five lawyers and two civilians, including the brother of one of the deceased women, for fabricating evidence.
Five police officials were arrested in connection with the case and the subsequent protests.
The 66-page CBI report absolved the policemen, who were in jail for around 47 days in connection with the case and against whom a state-appointed judicial commission had levelled charges of destruction of evidence, of all the charges.
The CBI report accused the 13 accused of hatching a criminal conspiracy to stir public anger against the security forces.
Since neither rape nor murder took place, the CBI report concluded that there was no case. It said the lawyers had hatched a conspiracy and forced two persons to become witnesses.
The CBI report gave a detailed account of how the two were forced by the lawyers and some of the family members of Shakeel Ahanger, the husband of one of the deceased women.
The agency also rejected the theory of the Majlis-s-Maashwarat, an amalgam of separatist groups that spearheaded the agitation in Shopian, that the two women were abducted, raped and murdered when they had gone to their orchard on May 29, 2009.
According to the CBI, the two women drowned while trying to cross the river.
AIIMS doctors who conducted post-mortem examination on the exhumed bodies found the same diatoms (algae) in the lungs of two women that exist in the area where the bodies were found.
The CBI probe found that both teams of doctors lied in the post-mortem reports. The first team of doctors said Asiya Jan died due to cardiovascular arrest and Neelofar died due to neurogenic shock.
The second team of doctors from Pulwama claimed Asiya Jan was sexually assaulted and died due to haemorrhage and shock caused by bleeding from multiple injuries. Neelofar, the team had claimed, died due to neurogenic shock following sexual intercourse.
The CBI report quoted the medical opinion of AIIMS doctors who conclusively stated that the deaths took place “due to asphyxia as a result of ante-mortem drowning”. They said the lacerated wound on Asiya Jan’s forehead was not sufficient to cause death.