M A I N   N E W S

Death of a Doda girl
A brief goodbye would’ve saved Rahida, says friend
Ashutosh Sharma
Tribune News Service

On the way to the police station, the ‘munshi’, began asking me about the incident... He started persuading me to make such a statement that the skin of all the policemen present was saved. — Najab-ud-Din, Rahida Banoo’s friend

Jammu, May 31
Two days after Rahida Banoo committed suicide by jumping into the Chenab, allegedly due to the police highhandedness, the youth accompanying her said he was now a living corpse.

Najab-ud-Din of Ukhral village in Ramban today said the girl was going to be his life partner in the next couple of years and they had never thought that their four-year-long friendship would meet such a tragic end.

Speaking to the Tribune over the phone, he said, “On that day, policemen scrutinised our identity cards and insisted that we should accompany them to the police station. I and Rahida called up our parents from our mobile phones to make things clear, but the policemen were adamant. They detained us for an hour and did not allow us to go out of the tea shop,” he recalled.

“She pleaded for mercy, but no one listened to her although a crowd had gathered there. The swelling crowd and the behaviour of policemen compounded our embarrassment. When the cops did not let her go after she talked to her father, she suddenly freed herself from their grip and jumped into the river. It all happened in a moment. Thereafter, I was overpowered by the people. The police took me first to the Pul Doda police station and then to the Doda city police station. I fainted many times,” Najab-ud-Din recalls.

“On the way to the police station, the “munshi”, who was one among the policemen present at the site of the incident, started asking me about the incident. He started persuading me to make such a statement that the skin of all those present there was saved,” he said.

“We were good friends since we were in Bhaderwah degree college. She was a woman of high virtues and very endearing. She will be in my memories forever,” he said. “Our families knew about our friendship. We had decided to get formally engaged next year after she completed her BEd,” he added.

“Had the police not been there for another five minutes, we would have left the shop. When the police reached there, there were tears in her eyes as she was biding me adieu and I was trying to console her. I had to leave for Jammu where I am pursuing a computer course. A brief goodbye would have saved her life,” he said.

“In the police station, however, I got good treatment. Senior officials of the police assured me to punish the policemen responsible for her death,” he said.

“We reached the police station next morning. The police did not ask anything and allowed my son to go,” said Najab’s father Alaf Deen, a retired teacher.