Special public prosecutor Santokh Singh Basra, assisted by Bhopinder Singh and Harminder Singh, will fight the Kathua rape case in a Pathankot court.
New Delhi: Amid high-security, the trial for the Kathua rape and murder case began Thursday in Pathankot. In the high-profile case involving the gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in Jammu’s Kathua district, three Sikh public prosecutors will lead the charge against eight accused, including a juvenile.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on 24 May appointed 70-year-old veteran advocate Santokh Singh Basra as the special public prosecutor in the case. Basra will be assisted by Bhopinder Singh and Harminder Singh, chief prosecuting officers of the Crime Branch in Jammu and Samba courts, respectively.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court transferred the case out of the state to the district and sessions court in Pathankot.
Basra will represent the state in two cases. The first involves the seven accused — alleged mastermind of the Kathua crime, Sanji Ram, his son, four policemen, and a retired revenue official. The second case is against the juvenile.
Speaking to Greater Kashmir, Basra said he has been going through the records of the case “day and night” to ensure that justice is delivered to the victim, her family, and the Bakerwal community. He added that the J&K government was very cooperative and he was being provided all possible help.
Interestingly, Basra was counsel to former Akali Dal minister Sucha Singh Langah, who was booked for raping a Punjab police constable in September 2017. After the complainant withdrew her allegations in March 2018, the Punjab and Haryana high court granted Langah bail.
The Kathua gang rape and murder of January grabbed national headlines after chilling details of the incident were revealed in the charge sheet four months later. Demonstrations were organised across the country and thousands marched in protest. Many were also angry with the BJP, alleging that its leaders in Jammu and Kashmir were seen to be siding with the accused in the case.
The Kathua Bar Association called for a protest in an attempt to prevent the state police from filing the charge sheet in the case. Later, the bar association also demanded a CBI probe into the matter, which was turned down by the Mehbooba Mufti government.
It was in this communally charged setting that Bhopinder Singh and Harminder Singh were initially appointed as special public prosecutors. And now, Basra’s recent appointment suggests that the Jammu and Kashmir government is taking no chances when it comes to countering allegations of communal bias within police ranks.
S.P. Vaid, director general of police, J&K Police, however, claimed that the state police had no such intention in mind when recommending the name of these two officers as SPPs.
“Please do not think on religious lines. It has not been done. Police does not think in terms of Hindu or Muslim or Sikh,” Vaid told The Times of India.
With inputs from PTI.