Conflict
Kathua rape and murder case: Valley traders threaten state wide agitation if justice not delivered
Srinagar: The traders of the valley have threatened to launch a state wide agitation if the government fails to deliver justice in the Kathua rape and murder case.
They also said that “pressure is being created to subvert the case, so that culprits are given an easy escape”.
Scores of traders under the banner of Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA) and Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF) held protests here against Jammu based lawyers for supporting the alleged perpetrators of ‘gruesome’ rape and murder.
Lawyers in Kathua on Monday tried to prevent the Crime Branch to file the chargesheet in the rape and murder case of the an eight year old girl. However the police, after calling reinforcements filed the chargesheet.
The Jammu and Kashmir police have registered a case against the lawyers for obstructing Crime Branch from filing charge sheet in Kathua rape and murder case at the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Kathua, on Tuesday.
Nine accused, including the alleged mastermind Sanji Ram – an ex-bureaucrat – and his son vishal Kumar, a police head constable, two SPOs and a sub-inspector of police, have been arrested in the case.
Ram surrendered before the police on March 20. His surrender came after the arrest of his son Vishal – a BSc Agriculture student -from Meerut area of Uttar Pradesh.
Ram, said to be linked with the Hindu Ekta Manch, allegedly motivated special police officer Deepak Khajuria to kidnap, rape and murder the eight-year-old victim with the intention of driving out nomadic families of Muslim origin from Jammu’s Rasana village.
Earlier, it came to fore that how the police had initially botched up the probe by destroying crucial evidence.
On January 17, body of minor girl was found in the forests near Rasana, Hiranagar. The girl had been missing for a week. According to police, she had been abducted and raped by an SPO Deepak Khajuria, who was a part of the team sent out find her when she was missing.
The investigation of the Crime Branch further revealed that she had been drugged so that she couldn’t cry for help.
On January 23, the Mehbooba Mufti government had ordered a probe into the incident, and subsequently handed over the case to the Crime Branch of police. Several people including two policemen have been arrested so far for involvement in the crime.
However, Hindu Ekta Manch has been protesting in support of the arrested policeman, demanding transfer of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.The Chief Minister has already condemned the rallies being held by Hindu Ekta March and also said that raising the tricolour in such rallies amounts to desecration.
