MUZAFFARABAD, April 26: Four women were injured when relatives of a councillor beat them with batons and iron chains in the border village of Chakothi on Monday over a property dispute, witnesses said.

However, police denied any woman had been injured and said two men from each side had been injured and they had been arrested.

“A woman also came to the police station claiming that she was injured but the doctor contradicted her claim after medical examination,” Chinari police station SHO Raza Gillani told Dawn by telephone.

However, a witness said around 15 men with batons and iron chains had beaten the women in presence of dozens of shopkeepers.

Police said there was a dispute between the two parties — Khans and Sheikhs — over possession of a small piece of land in a bazaar.

A jirga had decided the matter in favour of the Sheikhs although a patwari had provided some documents to the Khans to establish their ‘false’ claim on the land.

The Sheikhs had built two shops on the land on Sunday. They were out of village on Monday to attend a wedding ceremony when their opponents demolished the shops. Woman members of the community, living in nearby tents, rushed to the spot to prevent the attackers from demolishing the shops but they were beaten up, the witness said.

He said one of the attackers, Mukhtar, son of councillor Sharif, was injured when some woman pelted stones on them to rescue another woman who was being beaten.