Kathua: 8-year-old victim was raped and murdered to drive away Bakarwal community from area, says police chargesheet

More details have emerged of the horrific rape-cum-murder of a eight-year-old girl in Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir. While protests have erupted in the Valley, charge-sheet in the case reveals some grim details about the gruesome act.The girl belonged to the Bakarwal community, a Sunni-Muslim nomads who are classified a scheduled tribe. 

The investigation in the gang rape-cum-murder of the minor girl have shown that the motive of the crime was to drive away the Bakarwal community from the area. The key-accused Sanji Ram, a retired revenue officer was against the settlement of Bakarwals in Rasana Kootah and Dhamyal area of Kathua district. The police report further mentions that there was hatred against the minor’s community because of the suspicion that they practised cow slaughter.

The 18-page charge sheet filed by the police in court states: “During investigation it transpired that a particular community had a general impression that the Bakarwals indulge in cow slaughter and drug trafficking.”

It has been learned from the investigations that Sanji Ram always kept motivating members of his community not to give land for grazing or any other help to the Bakarwals. When a man named Harnam Singh had givenland to one of the Bakarwals, Sanji Ram stopped the sale of the land through his sources.

Head constable Tilak and SPO Deepak Khajuria was also against the settlement of Bakarwals in Rasana, Kootah and Dhamyal area and had discussed the issue with Sanji Ram to chalk out a strategy to keep them out of the area.

The police report states: “They were blaming the Bakarwals on one pretext or the other and used to threaten them.”

The investigators have been able to establish that the accused had reasons to act against the Bakarwal Community. “The conspiracy ultimately resulting into the gruesome rape and brutal murder of an innocent child of only 8 years of age, who being a small kid became a soft target”, says the charge sheet.

According to reports, the minor was kidnapped on January 10^th, drugged and kept in the temple which was managed by Sanji Ram. For days she was repeatedly drugged and gang-raped. On the day she was killed, they raped her once more and strangulated her. The accused also hit her with a stone to ensure she was dead.

 Jammu High Court Bar Association (JHBA) on Wednesday struck work demanding a CBI probe into the Kathua rape-cum-murder case, leading to disruption of normal life across the region. The brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old Bakerwal girl has polarised the normally peaceful town of Jammu, with the local Bar Association calling for a bandh against what it termed the "targeting of minority Dogras" while the state police had lodged a case against lawyers who allegedly tried to prevent it from filing a charge sheet against the accused.

Markets in Jammu city wore a deserted look as shops and schools remained closed while skeletal public transport was seen plying on various routes. Majority of the private educational institutions also remained closed as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident, officials said.

The strike, which was supported by several political and civil society groups except Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI), was peaceful so far though rallies and protests were staged by lawyers and their supporters at various places in the city to ensure success of their strike call.

With inputs from PTI