J&K government shifts Shopian police chief

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is arriving in Srinagar on Thursday to take stock of the security and law and order situation in the aftermath of the week long protests and shut down against the alleged rape and murder of two women on May 30.

After the team of doctors who had conducted autopsies of the bodies of the two women testified before the one member probe by a retired judge of the state high court that the women had died because of physical assault, the police on Wednesday registered a case of murder in the incident.

Earlier this week the forensic science laboratory report had confirmed the duo had been raped before their death, and accordingly a First Investigation Report for rape had been registered by Shopian police.

The relatives and local villagers have been blaming the security forces for the rape and murder of the two young women.

For the second day protests by students were held in Srinagar and other towns against the incident.

The call for Wednesday's protests by girl students was given by the hardline separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Wednesday's protests were, however, relatively peaceful.

The state government on Wednesday evening shifted the Shopian district police chief, Javed Iqbal Mattoo and appointed Shahid Mehraj as the new superintendent of police of the district.

Mattoo has been appointed as superintendent of police in Ramban. Earlier the district magistrate was also shifted by the state government.