The Jammu and Kashmir Police on 22 February submitted a charge sheet for the infamous Srinagar acid attack that sent shock waves across Jammu & Kashmir.
The 24-year-woman had suffered grievous burn injuries after a boy threw acid on her in the downtown area of Srinagar city on 1 February. The attack left the face of the woman completely damaged. She is currently undergoing treatment in Chennai.
The Jammu & Kashmir Police arrested three persons, including the main accused whose marriage proposal was apparently rejected by the woman. Two of the accused, who have been identified as Sajid Altaf Rather and Mohd Saleem Kumar, are presently lodged at Central Jail, Srinagar; the third accused, who is a juvenile, has been lodged at an observation home in Harwan, Srinagar.
The police filed a charge sheet running into 1,000 pages before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, and invoked IPC sections 326A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), which envisages a minimum of ten years or life imprisonment.
The charge sheet against the third accused, the juvenile, will be filed separately before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act.
A Conspiracy
The charge sheet, a copy of which is available with this reporter, revealed that Sajid Altaf Rather hatched a conspiracy with Muhammed Saleem Kumar, and the juvenile threw the acid on the woman. The three wanted to “teach a lesson” and “take revenge” from the victim as she had rejected the marriage proposal of Rather.
The charge sheet further reveals that the main accused, after sustained questioning, confessed to the commission of the crime and also disclosed the involvement of his two other associates.
It also reveals that Rather brought sulphuric acid from Kumar. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was formed after the attack, also recovered a bottle containing acid from a Baleno vehicle, on the instance of the accused.
“This was the bottle in which the accused brought sulphuric acid from Mohd Salem Kumar from the mechanical workshop,” reads the charge sheet.
The charge sheet was filed just three weeks after the incident to ensure swift punishment to the accused. It says that immediately after this incident, a police party from the Nowhatta police station reached the crime spot and found that it was “inadvertently” cleaned by a woman. However, the police were lucky to get the evidence from the scene of the crime.
“... Some stains were noticed on the gate of a nearby house, which were collected on two pieces of white cloths and seized on the spot in presence of independent witnesses,” it reads.
The Three Were From the Same Locality
Police investigation reveals that the physical and chemical examination of clothes worn by the main accused and the juvenile at the time of the commission of the crime had sulphuric acid.
It said that all the three accused were part of the criminal conspiracy, and that even though they may have joined the conspiracy at different times, there was a clear consensus.
“Further, the fact that all the three accused are residents of the same locality and are well-known to each other for long reinforces this,” it reads.
During the course of the investigation, a scooter bearing registration number JK01AN-4527, which was used in the commission of the crime, was also recovered and seized from the house of one Sajad Ahmad Sheikh.
“It was found that the accused had taken this scooter from Sheikh on the pretext of fetching petrol from a nearby petrol pump,” the charge sheet reads.
The Role of the Juvenile
During the course of the investigation, it was found that when Rather took the juvenile boy along to throw acid on the face of the victim, the boy knew about the conspiracy. It said the juvenile “willingly” accompanied the main accused on the scooter and rode in the back seat of the scooter.
“After the criminal act, he came back with the main accused on the same scooter and got busy with routine work. His conduct post the incident, wherein he didn't inform anyone about the crime, also dearly points out that he was part of conspiracy and execution of the criminal act in this case,” the investigation revealed.
The charge sheet reveals that the juvenile helped the police recover a black-coloured glass bottle near the Kawdara Park in Srinagar that was used to throw the acid on the victim’s face.
“The injury marks were noticed over the upper side of the right hand of the juvenile accused and were later examined by a specialist doctor at SMHS hospital for opinion. According to the doctor's opinion, the injury marks are likely to be caused by some chemical substance,” it reads.
During the investigation, the fingerprints of all three arrested accused were collected by the forensic science laboratory team in the presence of the Executive Magistrate for further comparison with chance prints.
A Speedy Trial
The investigation was done under the supervision of Rakesh Balwal, Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar. Balwal had also headed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team that probed the 2019 Pulwama attack. He was posted as SSP Srinagar following a series of attacks on civilians last year.
Soon after the incident, SSP Balwal constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Superintendent of Police (North) Raja Zuhaib Tanveer and comprising SDPO Muhammed Yasir Parray, SHOs Tasor Hamid and Owais Geelani and Sub-Inspector Shahista Mughal.
The SIT completed the investigation in a few weeks and filed the chargesheet. It nabbed the main accused from his home at Khalpora Buchwara, Dalgate, Srinagar.
Balwal said the case will be heard in fast track court and the police will ensure a speedy trial to ensure that justice is not delayed. “I have myself supervised the case and we have strong evidence against the accused,” said Balwal.
He further added that crimes against women won’t be tolerated and the accused will have to tase the law of the land. “We want that every case should be reported and there should be an FIR. The police will take action against the accused,” he added.
The Call Records
The mobile phone records of the accused as well as their locations have been annexed with the chargesheet to corroborate the conspiracy angle in the case. Rather, who is the main accused, had returned to the medical store after committing the heinous crime, where he was working as a salesman.
The call data record of Rather and the victim woman reveals that there were 32 calls (both in and out) from January 2022 till the commission of the crime.
“This points towards the facts already established through other oral and documentary evidence collected during the investigation, that the accused had been in frequent touch with the victim girl for a long time,” it said.
The call records of Rather further revealed that he had been frequently visiting the downtown area of Srinagar City, including Nowhatta, where the victim woman had been working, as well as Eidgah, where the woman resides.
(Auqib Javeed is a Srinagar-based journalist. He tweets at @AuqibJaveed. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the author's own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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