Jammu: The BJP`s state unit today
demanded a judicial probe into the alleged disappearance of
two minor girls in police custody in remote village of Atholi
in Kishtwar district.
"The people of the area believe that these hapless
girls have been killed after the police officials kept them in
the lockup and subjected them to brutalities," the BJP`s Jammu
and Kashmir unit president Shamsher Singh Manhas told
reporters here.
Police said they arrested a 22-year-old boy in a
"compromising position" with two girls aged 19 and 17 years on
July 12. They claimed to have released the girls on the same
day. The incident had sparked protest in the area and a Station
House officer was booked on charges of wrongful confinement.
Demanding the arrest of the SHO and his team members,
Manhas said the officer neither informed the parents of the
girls nor took any respectable citizen of the village into
confidence in handling the issue of the minor girls belonging
to schedule caste community.
He said the authorities acted "casually" by only
suspending the SHO and holding an enquiry into the issue by an
officer of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.
Seeking the intervention of the Chief Minister, the
BJP leader said his party will launch an agitation if the
demands are not met.
Manhas also flayed the authorities for announcing Rs
75,000 compensation to the families of these girls. "It is not
only an insult to the families but also an admission by the
government that the girls have been killed in custody," he
said.
The state BJP chief also appealed to the National
Commission for Women to take cognizance of the case.
PTI
