Srinagar: Students at many places in the Kashmir Valley took to the streets and clashed with security forces on Tuesday in protest against the rape of a minor in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora district.
Students of Amar Singh College came out of the campus and fought pitched battles with the security forces here. The students were demanding a speedy trial of the accused, who has been arrested, and justice for the victim. Students also protested in large numbers against the heinous crime in the Kashmir University campus in Srinagar.
The students carried banners demanding death for the accused. They appealed that nobody should use the highly sensitive issue for vote bank politics and everyone must try and get speedy justice to the victim. Student protests were also held at a number of other places but these ended peacefully.
Protesters demanding exemplary punishment to the rapist again blocked the Srinagar-Baramulla highway. At some places, the moving vehicles were stoned, forcing the traffic to stop. Police have arrested the accused, Tahir Ahmed Mir, and set up a special investigation team (SIT) to complete the investigation speedily.
The crime was committed on May 9 when Muslims in the Valley were busy breaking their daily fast during the ongoing holy month of Ramadan. Police have also booked the principal of a private school that had issued a date of birth certificate in favour of the accused showing him as a minor.
Preliminary medical examination of the accused shows Mir is an adult. There has been widespread condemnation of the crime with all religious, political and social organisations appealing to people to maintain sectarian brotherhood so that the police are able to take the investigation to its logical end.