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Kathua rape-murder case: BJP’s J-K unit uploads video questioning probe

The video was also put on Jammu and Kashmir BJP’s official Twitter and Facebook accounts on Friday.

Kathua rape-murder case: BJP’s J-K unit uploads video questioning probe

New Delhi: People participate in #NotInMyName protest against incidents of rape in Unnao (Uttar Pradesh) and Kathua (Jammu and Kashmir) in New Delhi, on April 15, 2018. (Photo: IANS)

A video has been uploaded on the official website of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit, raising questions on the Crime Branch’s investigations in the Kathua rape-murder case.

The video was also put on Jammu and Kashmir BJP’s official Twitter and Facebook accounts on Friday.

The video labelled “A big expose on Kathua facts” featured advocate Monika Arora, who criticises the investigation and makes allegations that the investigation was flawed.

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In the video, Arora raises questions over how the body of the eight-year-old victim was discovered and alleged the “facts did not add up” on the proximity of the body near the accused’s house.

As per an Indian Express report, Arora was one of the five members of an ‘independent’ team that recently visited Jammu on ‘a fact-finding mission’ into the rape and murder in Rasana village. Arora had said that the fact-finding team, who visited Kathua on April 23 and 24, found many “loopholes” in the investigation by the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

The other four members included Meera Khadkkar, retired district judge, Nagpur; Sarjana Sharma, Kashmir journalist; Sonali Chitalkar, assistant professor, Department of Political Science, Miranda House, Delhi University; and, Monicca Agarwaal, a social activist.

The team prepared its report on the basis of their interaction with the families of the accused, their lawyer Ankur Sharma and the Jammu Bar Association. However, the five-member team didn’t meet the family of the victim or the Muslim Bakarwal community.

The fact-finding team had submitted its report on Friday, demanding a CBI probe into the case from Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Minister in PMO

BJP’s J-K spokesperson Sunil Sethi said that the video was uploaded on their official website after the report was submitted to Minister of State in the PMO Dr Jitendra Singh, who, however, added that “it does not mean that we are accepting the report and claimed that central government had nothing to do with it”. He reportedly assured the report to the J-K Police.

Th case led to fissures between PDP-BJP alliance as PDP supported the police investihation, while BJP was asking for a CBI probe into the case.

Kathua rape-murder case

The child from a minority nomadic community had disappeared from near her home in a village near Kathua in Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the same area on 17 January. She was reportedly held captive inside a temple and was sedated before being raped, tortured and murdered.

As many as nine accused, including a police head constable and two special police officers (SPOs) and a sub-inspector of police, were arrested in the case.

However, the trial in the case is currently on hold after the Supreme Court stayed proceedings until 7 May.

The apex court is hearing a plea filed by the Kathua rape and murder victim’s father, seeking that the trial be moved outside Jammu and Kashmir, while two of the accused in the case has urged the Supreme Court to transfer the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The Supreme Court will hear these requests on 7 May.

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