House set ablaze allegedly by members of woman’s extended family

Anantnag: A 30-year-old woman was found hanging dead at her husband’s house here in main town Anantnag on Saturday morning, following which unidentified people, believed to be members of woman’s extended family from Kulgam district, set ablaze the house.

The deceased woman has been identified as Nafeesa Jan, wife of Atif Hussain Misger, a resident of Moominabad locality in main town Anantnag. Before her marriage, Jan lived in Chowgam village of Qazigund in Kulgam district. She was Misger’s second wife.

A senior police officer in Anantnag confirmed the incident and said that the police received information about the alleged suicide of the woman in the morning.

“We had sent a team and the body of the woman was brought to the hospital,” the officer said, adding that some people reached the spot and set ablaze the house “after the police had left.”

Cases in both the incidents — the alleged suicide of the woman and the setting ablaze of the house — have been registered, the officer said. “The husband of the deceased woman has also been brought in for questioning,” he added.

Local sources told Kashmir Reader that Misger had divorced his first wife and then married Jan. “However, recently the relationship between the couple had not been well. She stayed at her parents for a while. She had come back after sorting out issues with her husband only some 10-15 days back,” the sources said.

They said that the woman was an orphan and is survived by 4 other sisters and a younger brother. “She might have taken the desperate step because the condition at her home in Chowgam was also dire and she could not have stayed there forever,” a source told Kashmir Reader.

Police, meanwhile, said that the case was being thoroughly investigated. “Yes, the initial investigation has revealed that Misger was married twice. We are looking into all the other angles to the incident and anyone guilty will be brought to book,” the police officer said.

Today’s case is the second such incident in Anantnag in less than a fortnight. A 28-year-old woman, from Akoora village of the district, succumbed to burn injuries at SMHS hospital in Srinagar after being allegedly set ablaze by her in-laws following an altercation.

People across the spectrum have condemned these incidents while some activists have been demanding stringent action against the perpetrators of such crimes.

Suhail A Shah