Kashmir protests: Handwara victim records her statement before CJM

SRINAGAR: A Kashmiri girl, who was reportedly molested by a soldier, has denied that ever happened and has instead alleged that local boys harassed her and also began the riots that led to the killing of two young men when the army fired on protesters in Handwara on Tuesday.In a widely circulated YouTube video interview, the teenager narrated the sequence of events and clarified that she was not misbehaved with or molested by a soldier."I went to the (public) washroom and handed my bag to a friend. When I came back, a Kashmiri student heckled me and snatched my bag. The boy in school uniform slapped me and asked 'if there were no boys in the valley' (angrily insinuating that the girl was in a relationship with a soldier). I was shocked and confused about what he had said. Suddenly, several boys gathered. The boy asked me to go to the police station with him. There was a police uncle nearby. I told the boy to return my bag so that I could go to police station with the cop. He said he would not return my bag and started abusing me."Violent protests erupted in Handwara on Tuesday afternoon following rumours that a teenage girl was molested by a soldier of the Rashtriya Rifles in a camp in the middle of Handwara in north Kashmir.An agitated mob set ablaze an Army picket, pelted stones, attacked Jammu & Kashmir police personnel and attacked the local police station. Police officers were beaten up by the mob. The soldiers opened fire and three people including a woman were killed."There was no soldier there (near or in the washroom). I saw Hilal (an acquaintance). He slapped me and asked me what I was doing there. I asked him how he too could accuse me of any such thing (allegation of an illicit relationship) knowing me and our family. He too started abusing. It seemed that they had conspired in advance. The boy instigated all other boys too to create trouble," the girls says in the video.Defence spokesman Col Manish Kumar said the Handwara girl's revelation has exposed the malicious intent of the perpetrators. The video clearly implicates local youth and shows how false propaganda resulted in massive protests, he said.Meanwhile, one of the injured in Tuesday's firing, Raja Begum, who was admitted in SKIMS, succumbed to her bullet injuries later that night, taking the death toll to three. She was hit by a stray bullet in Tuesday's firing.Protests erupted in the Langate area after her dead body arrived home on Wednesday.Authorities imposed curfew in the six police station areas of Srinagar city and in Handwara in Kupwara district on Wednesday. The situation in uptown Srinagar was normal. Shops and business establishments were functioning as usual in several areas.