Srinagar, May 14: Protests continued in Kashmir Valley on Tuesday over the alleged rape of a three-year-old girl in Bandipora district of north Kashmir.
The state police have constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the rape case and one person has been arrested.
Even as authorities had closed several educational institutions in the Valley, students took out protest rallies against the alleged rape of the minor girl in Sumbal area of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district last week.
Protests erupted at Women’s College Maulana Azad Road here as the students came out of their classes and assembled in the campus.
The protesting students demanded stern action against the accused, the officials said, adding later, the protestors marched towards the Press Enclave here.
Protests also rocked Kashmir University in Hazratbal area of the city where hundreds of students of different departments under the banner of Kashmir University Students Union (KUSU) assembled inside the campus to register their protest.
They said the students chanted slogans against the accused and demanded capital punishment for him.
Students of Degree College Kangan in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district also staged a protest demonstration demanding justice to the victim.
Scores of the students marched from the college campus to the main market at Kangan and staged a sit-in to express solidarity with the victim.
Clashes erupted outside Bemina Degree College and Amar Singh College in Gogji Bagh, Srinagar after the students staged protests against the alleged rape.
Eyewitnesses said that the students of Amar Singh College staged massive protests inside the campus and tried to move outside. However, the police deployed in the area didn’t allow them to come outside, triggering clashes.
“The students resorted to stone pelting on the police from inside the campus. The police responded by lobbing tear gas shells inside the college campus,” said a college official.
The clashes later spilled over to streets outside the college and continued for some time.
Similarly, clashes erupted near Bemina Degree College between students and police after the campus erupted in massive protest.
The students also carried out a peaceful protest march in Boniyar area of Uri in northern Baramulla district, the officials said.
Apprehending law and order problems, several educational institutions were closed by respective district authorities across the Valley on Tuesday as a precautionary measure.
In Baramulla district, all schools in tehsil Pattan and Singhpora were shut, while Degree College and Higher Secondary schools in Baramulla and Sopore towns also remained closed, the officials said.
They said all government educational institutions including schools and colleges of tehsil Sonawari in Bandipora district also remained closed, while Government Degree College Ganderbal, government girls and boys higher secondary schools in Ganderbal town were also closed.
Class-work remained suspended at Government Degree Colleges and Higher Secondary Schools in Anantnag and Bijbhera towns of district Anantnag on Tuesday, the officials said.
The authorities also ordered suspension of class-work in Government Degree College Shopian and in Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), the officials said.
Groups of students, lawyers and various NGOs also held protests at the Press Enclave here, demanding exemplary punishment to the accused.
