SRINAGAR, Nov 12: Police in south Kashmir have launched a manhunt to nab four people who are accused of kidnapping and allegedly gang-raping a girl, an incident which led to protests in the area, police said Monday.
Crime against women, rare in Kashmir in recent past, has increased significantly as more than two decades of strife is now giving way to normal life.
A girl from Shopian district of southern valley was found naked and unconscious by villagers in the neigbouring Kulgam district on Sunday morning. She said the kidnappers were led by one of her neigbours and has also identified him.
“We have launched a manhunt to nab the prime accused. We have registered a case and the girl’s statement was recorded before the magistrate today,” a police official.
He said medical tests to confirm the rape are awaited.
The victim told the police that she was kidnapped, drugged and beaten up by the four kidnappers at an unknown location.
“I was coming out of the washroom in the compound of my house when suddenly someone sprinkled chilly water into my eyes and then forcibly whisked me away into the red Santro vehicle,” the victim was quoted by Greater Kashmir as saying.
“They tore apart my clothes and then I was drugged till I felt unconscious.”
Incidents of rape have been less in Muslim-majority Kashmir, which has seen 23 years of violence after militants began an armed uprising and propogated conservative Islamic ideas.
But now peace is slowly taking over and business and other activities are picking up. Significantly, the militants’ hold over daily life in the valley has eased.
