The Jammu and Kashmir administration has fired two government doctors from their positions for allegedly conspiring with Pakistan's ISI to fabricate the post-mortem reports of two young Kashmiri women named Asiya Jan and Neelofar Jan who drowned in Shopian in 2009 and attribute their deaths to rape and murder.
The post-mortem reports from the J&K doctors were later found to be false by the CBI, with findings from AIIMS and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) determining that the two women died from "asphyxia as a result of accidental drowning" and ruling out any evidence of rape or an attempt to commit rape in either case.
The two doctors terminated from service under Article 311(2)(c) of the Constitution of India - Dr Nighat Shaheen Chiloo, a consultant gynaecologist now posted at sub-district hospital in Chadoora, Budgam and Dr Bilal Ahmad Dalal, a medical officer last posted at NTPHC, Shopian - were found to have “actively worked with Pakistan and hatched a conspiracy with its assets within Kashmir to falsify the postmortem reports of Asiya and Neelofar,” a J&K government functionary told the media.
J&K ‘rape’ report sparked off 7-month-long violent protest
In 2009, Doctors Bilal Ahmed and Nighat Shaheen were suspended for failing to follow proper procedure during an autopsy. After some time, they were reinstated. The “rape” finding in their falsified report had sparked off a seven-month cycle of violence in J&K, during which 42 strike calls were given and 600 law and order incidents left seven civilians dead and 135 others, including 35 police and para-military personnel, injured.