SRINAGAR:Hours after her mother alleged that her 16-year-old daughter was pressured to change her statement to exonerate Army personnel of molestation charges, the girl recorded her statement before Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Handwara, Jammu and Kashmir, and stood by her earlier assertion claiming she was dragged by two local youth.
The girl and her father were produced before the Handwara CJM and her statement was recorded.
A police spokesperson said the girl, in her statement, said that on April 12, while she was on her way home with her friend after school, she entered a public toilet near the main chowk in Handwara for answering Nature’s call. She said that as soon as she came out of the toilet, she was confronted, assaulted and dragged by two boys and her bag was snatched. “One of the boys was in a school uniform,” she told the court.
Meanwhile, Army chief General Dalbir Singh arrived at the Northern command headquarters in Udhampur on Sunday. “After his arrival, the Army chief was briefed about the security situation in the State by Northern command chief Lt Gen D S Hooda,” said Northern command spokesperson Colonel S D Goswami.
Goswami added that Gen Dalbir Singh made a first-hand assessment of the internal security situation, specifically in view of recent incidents at Handwara and Nutnusa in Kupwara, where five people were killed in security forces action in five days.
In a related development, life limped back to normalcy in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley after remaining crippled for five days due to curfew-like restrictions and shutdown. However, the restrictions continued in Handwara and parts of Kupwara.