Srinagar, February 8
A Srinagar court on Saturday issued arrest warrants against Congress leader and former state Health Minister Shabir Ahmad Khan, who has been booked for allegedly molesting a woman doctor.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate issued warrants after the Jammu and Kashmir police, in its application, said the accused was not cooperating in investigation. A copy of the FIR, submitted in the court, alleges that Shabir made provocative advances towards the doctor and tried to molest her. “The reasons sated in the application (by the police) are genuine and well-founded and make a ground for issuing arrest warrants against the accused,” said CJM Srinagar Verinder Singh Bhou.

“A notice was sent to the accused to appear before the SHO concerned. The accused, however, is evading the investigating officer,” said the magistrate. The CJM also directed the police station concerned to furnish the information of Shabir’s (an elected MLA) arrest to the Speaker as per rules. The J&K police have constituted a team headed by Deputy Superintendant of Police to trace Shabir, who is believed to have gone into hiding. “A team has been dispatched to Jammu to trace him,” said DIG (Kashmir) Afhad-ul-Mujtaba. Doctors in the Valley staged demonstrations against Shabbir and demanded his immediate arrest.

(With inputs from Amir Karim Tantray and Shyam Sood)