[1]The rape controversy took a new turn when the husband and mother-in-law of the woman claimed before police that she suffered from mental illness and was at her home in South Kashmir on the day she claimed she was sexually abused.
The statement of the family members of Ruqaya, 32, goes contrary to her claim that she was picked up by two men in uniform on July 19 and allegedly gang-raped for two days before being let off on July 21.
In her statement to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) yesterday, Amina Bi, mother-in-law of the alleged victim, said that her daughter-in-law went missing on the morning of July 20 and not evening of July 19.
"She (Ruqaya) had gone to a spring at 7.00 a.m on Wednesday (July 20) and did not return till late in the evening. We sent people in different directions but could not find her. She returned home the next day," Amina told the SIT officials.
Amina said she asked her daughter-in-law about her overnight absence but she did not say anything. "She started beating her chest and I thought she is having some pain. We took her to Manzgam hospital where she told the doctor that she had been raped," the woman said.
Ruqaya had alleged that she was kidnapped by two men in uniform on the evening of July 19 and held hostage for two nights during which she was raped in a "Dhok" at Manzgam, 80 kms from here.
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