Kishtwar district observed a complete shutdown on Thursday. After being pulled up by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), the Jammu and Kashmir Police have invoked the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act into the ongoing investigation of rape and death of a 14-year-old tribal girl in Chatroo.
The NCST has issued a notice to J&K chief secretary Atal Dulloo, DGP Nalin Prabhat and Kishtwar SSP Naresh Singh directing them to furnish their reply within five days into the progress made in the case so far. The headmaster allegedly connived with his two brothers — Tariq Hussain and Riaz Hussain — and others to illegally terminate the pregnancy through some medications that led to her death. Five people in total have been apprehended by the police so far. Amid shutdown in Kishtwar following a joint call by the Majlis-e-Shura and Sanatan Dharam Sabha, the district administration had deployed police and paramilitary forces to maintain law and order. Shops and business establishments remained closed across the district, while public transport was also affected. Adjoining Doda district also observed a partial bandh.
The 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped multiple times and impregnated by her school headmaster Khalid Hussain Sheikh, 42, that caused her seven to eight months of pregnancy, investigators have said.
