Thousands of residents of Shopian and adjoining areas on Saturday staged a sit-in before the office of the Deputy commissioner, Shopian, demanding punishment for the culprits involved in the alleged rape and murder of two local women.

Wearing black badges, men, women and children of Shirmal, Zawoora, Mamindar, Alliyalpora, Gagran, Batpora, Shopian and adjoining villages took to the streets and marched in a procession on the directions of Majlis-e-Mushawarat outfit, spearheading the agitation on the issue, to the office of the DC and presented a memorandum urging the authorities to identify the culprits and punish them.

The nearly four-hour-long sit-in in Shopian, 52 kms from Srinagar, was peaceful.

The strike in the district town against the rape and murder of Asiya and Nelofar entered 36th day on Saturday.

The bodies of 17-year-old Asiya and her pregnant 22-year-old sister-in-law Nelofar were recovered near a stream on May 30 after they went missing from their orchard a day earlier.