Girl’s stabbing: 3 Islamic varsity students detained

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 9

The J&K Police have picked up three students of the Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipora, for questioning to probe the stabbing of a girl from a minority community.

While the police say investigation in the case is still underway, the three students are being questioned for their role in “stabbing as well forcing the girl to convert into a Muslim”.

“We are investigating the case. The three students of the institute are being questioned,” a police officer said. It is learnt that a few acquaintances from the girl’s community may also be called for questioning. The probe is being monitored by SSP, Awantipora, a police officer said.

Last Monday, a girl from a minority community hailing from south Kashmir’s Tral in Pulwama district, who is a student of the university, was allegedly stabbed by two bike-borne men when she was waiting to board a bus to the university.

The girl received minor injuries. The two bike-borne men, who had their faces covered, managed to flee.

The police took suo motu cognisance of the incident and registered a case against two unidentified attackers.

During the investigation, they found that the girl had complained to the institute about the attempts of her batchmates to force her to convert.

The girl also named three boys and a girl of the university who allegedly forced her.

However, an internal probe by the university has already dismissed the incident as a “light joke” by her classmates.

Meanwhile, the civil society from both communities in Tral assured the girl and her family of full support.

“We want a speedy probe into the stabbing as well as forced conversion incidents,” a member of the civil society, Tral, Farooq Trali said.

“We visited the family along with a university official. The girl will go to university and the entire community will help her,” he said.

The civil society also asked politicians and other groups not to create a wedge among the two communities.