SRINAGAR: The high court in occupied Kashmir on Saturday directed the police to exhume the bodies of two women whose alleged rape and murder last month sparked massive anti-India demonstrations.

‘The high court has ordered exhumation of the bodies for fresh post mortem and collection of DNA samples,’ Mian Qayoom, the president of Kashmir bar association, told reporters.

However, the court has ordered that prior consent of the family be sought before the bodies are exhumed. The high court has intervened in the case after being petitioned by the bar association.

The Kashmir valley has witnessed a series of protests since the deaths last month of two young women who, local residents say, were raped and murdered by members of the Indian security forces.

The protests over the incident have left two people dead and over 400 others injured so far.

On Saturday, the high court also directed that the four police officers who had been suspended for destroying evidence be subjected to drugs tests.—AFP