J&K: Kishtwar girl dies after ‘forced abortion’ bid, teacher held

Girl's death triggers protests

JAMMU: A 14-year-old schoolgirl from J&K’s Kishtwar died after an alleged forced abortion attempt, triggering protests Friday that led to the arrest of a teacher and his brother on sexual assault and other charges.Authorities placed teacher Khalid Hussain under suspension after his arrest under Pocso and other sections from Kishtwar’s Chatroo, where he is posted in a govt middle school in Bamalpora area. “Khalid had allegedly developed physical relations with the girl, a student of his school. Her postmortem revealed she was around five months’ pregnant,” a police officer said.Khalid’s brother Tariq was held for helping in the illegal abortion attempt Thursday.

“Initially, Khalid, with the help of his brother, tried an illegal abortion with some medicines in Chatroo but it led to deterioration in the girl’s condition. She was shifted to District Hospital Kishtwar, from where she was referred to Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu for specialised treatment,” the officer said.Complications increased while the girl was being taken in an ambulance to Jammu, over 200km away, and she passed away late Thursday near Doda’s Batote.

Her body was taken back to the Kishtwar hospital and a postmortem conducted.The postmortem findings confirmed her pregnancy and the forced abortion attempt, the police said. “The body was handed over to her relatives after legal formalities. Investigations are on to ascertain whether other people were involved in the illegal act. Under the scanner are the girl’s relatives, possible medical professionals and the pharmacy owner who supplied the abortion medicines without following proper procedures,” the police officer said.

The teen’s death stoked anger. A shutdown was observed in Chatroo and protests rocked other parts of Kishtwar amid demands for action against those responsible for the girl’s abuse and death.Members of BJP’s Mahila Morcha Kishwar met officials in Kishtwar to press for “strictest possible action” and justice. Hours later, the teacher was suspended.