While politicians take U-turn, Kathua protesters persist with demand for CBI probe

Families and supporters of the eight Kathua suspects are on a hunger strike on the Kathua-Jammu highway | ThePrint

They say the J&K crime branch investigation is ‘biased’, adding that they are ‘pandering to one community’.

Kathua: A day after PM Modi condemned the alleged rape and murder of an eight-year-old here, and politicians, including two J&K BJP ministers, supporting the accused took a U-turn, the families of the suspects remained steadfast in their protest against the crime branch investigation. Supporters of the accused say they want a CBI inquiry even if it comes to the same conclusion as the crime branch.

The families of the eight accused, along with locals from Rasana, the site of the crime, and nearby villages, have been on an indefinite chain hunger protest on the Kathua-Jammu highway for the past fortnight, saying they will stay put till the probe is handed over to the CBI.

Sitting under a tree by the roadside, they said the crime branch investigation was “biased”, adding that they were “pandering to one community”.

“If my husband, my son and nephew have done it, let them be hanged,” said Darshana Devi, wife of retired revenue officer Sanjhi Ram, believed to be the prime conspirator in the crime.

According to the crime branch chargesheet, the child’s abduction was part of a ploy to drive her community out of Rasana. The rape wasn’t part of the conspiracy, said the crime branch, which has charged his son, juvenile nephew and a police officer with gang rape.

“We hold girls sacred and those who have raped and killed a child deserve the harshest punishment. But we also deserve a fair investigation, not a biased one,” Darshana said. “Whatever the outcome of the CBI investigation, even if the same persons are arrested, will be acceptable to us,” she added.

“Demanding a CBI probe is not asking that the culprits be set free. When the chargsheet was presented in court, the media was shocked at its contents but no one questioned the glaring loopholes in it,” said Tribhuvan, a local.

The protesters said their distrust of the crime branch investigation stemmed from a demonstration carried out by the Gujjar-Bakerwal community (to which the victim belonged) on the day the body of the victim was recovered, and raised questions about its leader, a man identified as Talib Hussain.

“During the protest, Hussain named all the accused in the case, including the local policemen investigating the crime. Those are the exact people who were later arrested by the crime branch,” said Tribhuvan, opening a YouTube video of Hussain’s speech.

The round-up of young boys from these villages for questioning during the course of the two-month investigation widened the support base for the accused. “More than 40 boys of around 22 villages were questioned. Many were even tortured,” said another local.

The two state BJP ministers who resigned, Lal Singh and Chandar Prakash Ganga, had expressed support of the so-called Hindu Ekta Manch, a body created in Kathua to back the demand for a CBI probe. “The manch was created in response to the violent protests carried out by the Gujjar-Bakerwal community. It was felt that the crime branch was trying to specifically target Hindu families of not just the village where the crime took place but also several nearby villages,” said Vijay Sharma, a Jammu-based advocate and BJP leader who spearheads the manch.

The crime has deepened communal fault lines in Jammu on account of the fact that the victim and the suspects belonged to separate communities, making headlines internationally for the wave of support for the suspects. The child was allegedly abducted while out to graze her family’s horses on 10 January, and found dead a week later. She was allegedly detained, heavily sedated with strong medicines, for four days and killed on 14 January.