Key Shopian witnesses now say they were forced to lie

In a fresh twist to the Shopian rape and murder case, two key witnesses retracted their earlier statement where they said they had heard the screams of women from a police vehicle parked at Rambi Ara Nallah Shopian. Abdul Rashid Pampori and Ghulam Mohi-ud-din Lone now say Shopian District Bar Association (SDBA) lawyers had forced them to depose in June.

“The earlier statement was recorded under Section 164-A CrPC before the local court. Later, the witnesses were re-examined and their statement recorded again under the same section, which has happened for the first time in judicial history. They retracted the earlier statement and levelled baseless allegations against us,” SDBA president MY Bhat said. The SDBA passed a resolution saying re-examination of witnesses “after tutoring them is not legally tenable.”

“A vilification campaign has been launched against the lawyers’ community by the CBI. We are mulling legal action against re-recording of the statement under section 164-A CrPC. We may approach the high court and complain against the CBI move. Legally, the statement is not tenable and we might move an application against such act,” Bhat said.
Neelofar and her sister-in-law Aasiya’s bodies were fished out of a stream at Shopian on May 30, a day after they went missing. Her family and locals alleged they were raped and murdered, allegedly by the police.