Kathua rattled by communalisation tinge to rape

Picture not related to the story It is used for mere representational purposes. FILE PIC: AFP

New Delhi: For how long will innocent people become scapegoats in the name of community disputes, caste disputes or religious hatred in India? For how long will criminals remain under the politically protected veil?

The answer to this question remains ambiguous. The recent incident in Kathua, Kashmir, again proved how our country is befalling into some crooked hands wherein one can’t expect justice over injustice. Since a long time now, the communal hatred in India is leading to the sacrifice of innocent lives.

The Kathua incident during January this year of an 8-year-old nomadic Bakerwal girl who was abducted, sedated, raped and killed. This was an act of barbarism. The conspiracy The entire incident was actually a well-woven conspiracy wherein the conspirators are said to be shielded by powerful hands. The rape and murder of this 8-year-old assumed communal overtones and later on turned out to be a raging controversy. The communal conflict by Hindus and Bakerwals lie at the heart of this sordid saga. To reiterate, the victim belonged to the Bakerwals community and many a times there were regular skirmishes between the two communities over the land trespass in Rasana.

The accused and his son (a juvenile), the police officer and his friend hatched a conspiracy in November last year. The idea was to teach a lesson to the Bakerwals but it turned out to be something more than even shameful. By the first week of January, the girl was sedated and the juvenile planned to kidnap her. Everything went as per plan. As per police, the girl was abducted on 10th of January and was allegedly raped in the forests before she was taken to ‘Devsthan’, a locally known temple. But this did not stop here…the girl was sedated and raped. The assault continued for a few days till she was allegedly raped by the police officer as well as the juvenile. The girl was confined using sedatives and strangled and wounded badly. She was later dumped inside the prayer hall.

Later events It is just not about the act which was heinous and outrageous in itself, but it is now more about the aftermath that adds to the disgrace. The charge sheet filed but a group of lawyers of Kathua Bar Association prevented Crime Branch of J&K from filing a charge sheet on the case. The saga doesn’t stop here; the Jammu High Court Bar Association (JHCBA) went on strike against the investigations by the Crime Branch. Public protests by lawyers followed under the banner of Hindu Ekta Munch but it seems that everything is a mere show for the political party in the state. All this appears to be a façade.   The role of lawyers who subverted the sanctity of justice is extremely shameful. These so-called ‘dignified’ lawyers rather projected themselves in very poor light. The polluted political saga took one step ahead in Kathua when the two BJP members, last month, reportedly attended a rally of Hindu Ekta Manch which was held in support of the accused in the case. For how long? The current raging situation in Kathua and the hunger strike is well justified but not for those who are engulfed within their religious leanings. Wherein a hapless 8-year-old girl was brutally raped and strangled to death, the politicians weighing in with their own warped interpretations. The Crime Branch arrested a few on suspicion of obliterating the evidence by washing the child’s clothes. DNA confirms the evidence of rape and the link of the perpetrators of the crime. The post-mortems also confirm the rape. To showcase another point, the case has been handed over to the CBI but the ruling party at the centre should exercise its right to push the case as fast as possible. A lot of questions arise: why is the association stressing on the investigation done by the agency which is controlled by the union government that too when the investigation proceedings have been done by the state’s crime branch. There are multiple factors that lie at the heart of this entire sordid incident. Be it religious leanings or some competitive vote bank politics. 

But one thing is clear that amidst all the shattered and obscure stands, the murder of that 8-year innocent child has become the perfect example of the communalisation of rape wherein the silence by the politicians is directly or indirectly endorsing the atrocious crime in the state.

While matters relating to Kashmir because of the sensitive area needs to be trod on carefully, this is an incident that has created widespread outrage on a brutal incident killing an innocent child.  It also calls into question the responsibility of the legal fraternity whose job it is to defend the oppressed and bring the culprits to book. In a case where there the stack of evidence is overwhelming it is deplorable that the lawyers have to sought to create roadblocks in the administration of justice