SHRIDHAR PATIL IS KATHUA SP
JAMMU: Senior superintendent of police, Kathua, M Suleman Choudhary, who was in the news because of a botched up probe into the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in January, was on Saturday shifted to the police headquarters.
He will be replaced by Shridhar Patil, who was heading the police force in South Kashmir’s militancy affected Kulgam district, according to an official order.
Choudhary, a 2007-batch IPS officer from the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, has been transferred and posted in the same rank with the Criminal Intelligence and Vigilance Department, the order read.
Though the Jammu and Kashmir Police said it was a routine transfer, it comes two weeks after the J&K Crime Branch submitted its chargesheet in the Kathua rape-and-murder case.
The chargesheet accused two district police officers of accepting bribes and destroying crucial evidence.
MEHBOOBA WELCOMES CABINET DECISION
Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has welcomed the decision of the Union Cabinet to award death penalty to those convicted of raping children up to 12 years of age.
This, she said, would go a long way in curbing the level of harassment against women and girls in the country.
The Union Cabinet had approved the ordinance regarding this earlier on Saturday.
She reiterated her resolve that her government intends to bring similar laws in the state to put an end to crimes against women.
DOGRA LEADER CHARAK CRIES FOUL
Former minister and Dogra Sadar Sabha president Gulchain Singh Charak on Saturday castigated Mehbooba Mufti government for her alleged sinister designs to polarise and communalise the Jammu region in the wake of the infamous Kathua rape and murder case.
Addressing media here, Singh said, “So far, it is not even sure if the victim was raped or not and whether she was of eight years or 15 years of age.”