Police suspended in Kashmir case

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The suspension of four police officers has been ordered in Indian-administered Kashmir in connection with the alleged rape and murder of two women there.

The move follows recommendations made in an interim report from a judicial commission to prosecute certain officials for tampering with evidence.

The government has also ordered the suspension of an official at the forensic science laboratory.

The bodies of the women were found on 30 May, prompting weeks of protests.

After the discovery of the bodies in a canal in the town of Shopian, the government initially maintained that the two women had died in an accident and that they had not been raped or killed.

However, the police later registered a case of both rape and murder.

The incident seriously challenged the credibility and ability of the chief minister, Omar Abdullah, who subsequently ordered a judicial inquiry into the case.

The report, by retired judge Justice Muzaffar Jan, was submitted on Sunday and made several key recommendations.

These included a recommendation to prosecute four police officers for "destroying evidence" pertaining to the case.

The deaths of the women have triggered widespread demonstrations in the Kashmir valley, during which at least two youths have been killed and hundreds wounded.

A series of strikes over the incident brought parts of the valley to a virtual standstill.