New Delhi, July 20 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday suspended a Jammu and Kashmir High Court order for narco tests of police officers involved in the rape and murder of two women in Shopian town.
However, the bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P. Sathasivam postponed the decision on the police officers’ bail plea till Friday.

Four police officers - Javed Iqbal Mattoo, then Shopian superintendent of police, his deputy Rohit Baskotra, inspector Shafeeq Ahmed and station house officer Qazi Abul Kareem - have been accused of destroying crucial evidence in the rape and murder of 17-year-old Asiya Jan and her 22-year-old pregnant sister-in-law Neelofar in south Kashmir Shopian town May 30.

The accused cops were arrested and their blood samples collected over the weekend after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court ordered profiling of their DNA and their narco-analysis. The court also ordered that any bail application filed by the accused should be considered by it only.

Mattoo and Baskotra challenged the high court order in the Supreme Court Friday.

After the plea filed by their counsel Mukul Rohtagi, the apex court agreed to hear the arrested police officers’ bail plea and issued notice to the state government.

Rohtagi said the high court order was passed in violation of the principles of natural justice and without giving an opportunity to the police officers to have their say.

“The (Jammu and Kashmir) high court has become a police post. It has also become a dispensary for collecting blood sample at the same time. It has also become a jail.”

Rohatgi said even if they are booked for the destruction of evidence, it’s a bailable offence.

The Kashmir Valley has witnessed angry protests over the rape and murder the two women.

–Indo-Asian news Service

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