Kathua: Party lines blur in communal haze over rape, murder of seven-year-old in J&K

Hindu Ekta Manch president Vijay Kumar Sharma is cut up about prohibitory orders being imposed for a month in Kathua district from February 20. “We have heard of prohibitory orders for a few days, but what is this one month?” he asks, adding that the Manch had to defer plans for a bandh in Hira Nagar, a tehsil in the district. Formed days after the first arrest in the rape and murder of a seven-year-old Bakherwal girl last month in Rasana village, this new Hindu organisation had planned the bandh to press for the case to be transferred to the CBI. “We have given the government till February 28 to meet our demand,” says Sharma, who is also a J&K BJP secretary.

In Kathua, the arrests of a minor and two special police officers, Deepak Khajuria and Surinder Verma, for the crime have sharpened the communal divide. Hindus say they are “second class citizens” in the state, and speak about “plans to change the demography” of Jammu. The Bakherwals, however, are wary of a plan to drive them out of the area. When the girl’s body was found in Rasana on January 17, the Muslim Bakherwal-Gujar community protested by blocking NH 44 at the Kathua-Samba district border. On January 21, they blocked it again, after the arrest of the teenaged boy.

“It is impossible that a boy of his age managed to keep her hidden for six days, raped and killed her over this time, and then dragged her body into the woods where it was found. That is why we protested,” says the girl’s uncle.

The protests resonated in the State Assembly, in session in Jammu at the time, especially after a lathicharge to disperse the second blockade. On January 22, the government, which had appointed a Special Investigation Team, ordered a magisterial enquiry. On January 23, it handed over the case to the Crime Branch. On the same day, the Hindu Ekta Manch was launched. On February 8, the Crime Branch arrested Khajuria. Four days later, Verma was held.

“The girl was our own daughter and the guilty must be punished, which is why we want the case to be handed over to the CBI. We have no faith that police under this government can conduct a fair investigation. We are not defending the accused. We are only demanding that police not harass innocents,” says Sharma.

A practising advocate in Hira Nagar, Sharma describes the Manch as a “non-political social organisation formed only with the agenda for getting the CBI to conduct this investigation so that the girl’s family also gets justice”.

Its members are from BJP, Congress and Panthers Party, and includes Hira Nagar BJP MLA Kuldip Raj. But for many of the Manch’s members, party affiliation is “secondary”. The Manch has held meetings at Hira Nagar’s Parshuram temple and taken out processions against the government and police.

At one such procession on February 13, a participant was holding the Tricolour, which prompted Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to tweet: “Appalled by the marches & protests in defence of recently apprehended rapist in Kathua. Also horrified by their use of our national flag in these demonstrations, this is nothing short of desecration. The accused has been arrested & the law will follow its course”. Sharma says Mehbooba’s use of the word “rapist” makes it clear “she has already convicted the accused”. “How can police deliver a credible investigation?” he asks.

“What’s wrong if someone carries the national flag, we are not raising anti-national slogans. As patriotic citizens, we were demanding justice. Why does she not tweet when people who have taken oath of office raise pro-Pakistan slogans in the Assembly, or when the Indian flag is burnt in Srinagar?” he asks.

Kant Kumar, a Congressman and ex-sarpanch of Kootah, under which Rasana falls, dismisses suggestions that the Manch may have communalised the incident. “Many Hindus participated in the protest along with the Bakherwal the first time,” he says. But the climate of polarisation in this region is visible in the allegations that Kumar raises. He claims that except for ADGP Alok Puri, the “Crime Branch is filled with Muslims”, and that “communalism has been injected in the system”.

Kumar further claims that police made the arrests “under pressure”, like in the Gurgaon school murder case in Haryana. “It took the CBI to find the real culprit in that case,” he says. He’s referring to the arrest of a 16-year-old student for the murder of an eight-year-old boy, after police had initially charged a school bus conductor with the crime.

According to Kumar, the Manch was formed after Bakherwal-Gujar protesters brought “their people from outside” to block the highway on January 21. “The protesters came from Rajouri, Poonch, Kishtwar, Doda,” he says.

The victim’s father says that had the community not turned out in strength, investigations would not have progressed. “People came from outside because they are our relatives and felt strongly that something wrong was happening,” he says. “If local police had taken the case seriously on January 11, when we lodged the first complaint, our daughter might have been alive,” says the girl’s mother. The Manch members, meanwhile, complain about “a demographic invasion” in Kathua, “abetted” by the J&K government. BJP’s Sharma claims his party is “voiceless” although it is part of a ruling coalition with the PDP.

“The Chief Minister met a Bakherwal delegation taken by PDP Minister Chaudhary Zulfikar. But when our MLA Kuldip Raj tried to arrange our meeting with her, she did not give any time,” he claims. Officially, the BJP has distanced itself from the Manch but Union Minister of State Jitender Singh, who represents the Kathua-Udhampur-Doda constituency, appears to support its demand.

Earlier this week, Singh had said: “If people feel that they don’t have faith in the police or Crime Branch investigation and the case needs to be handed over to the CBI, I don’t think there is any problem… If the state government recommends it to the Centre, we will definitely act on it.”

Anwar Chaudhary, a Gujar leader, insists that the motive behind the crime was to “fill fear and terror in the hearts of the Bakherwal so that they move out of this area because the Hindus don’t want them there”.

“But the communal divide that is being created over this crime is wrong. Hindus and the Gujar-Bakherwal community have had good relations for generations. Gujars supply milk to all of Jammu. Everyone knows we are patriotic citizens,” he says. However, Manch president Sharma insists that emotions are “running high”, especially among the youth. “Young people in our community are very angry… (The) older ones are counselling restraint,” he says.

According to police, any decision on calling the CBI is the government’s prerogative. Says an officer, “For us, the only parties concerned are the girl’s family and those arrested. The rest is politics.”

source: http://indianexpress.com