Jammu on edge, hit by lawyers’ bandh
JAMMU: Right-wing Hindu groups refused to back down on Wednesday from their demand that the investigation into the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu’s Kathua be handed over to federal investigators and the suspects be released, forcing a shutdown of schools and markets in the region.
The shutdown came a day after several people, mostly lawyers from Jammu, were booked for trying to stop police from filing a charge sheet in court. The formal indictment by police on Monday revealed gruesome details of the attack on the child, which investigators said was meant to terrorise the girl’s Bakarwal community in fleeing the village dominated by Hindus.
State BJP leaders, including forest minister Lal Singh and industries and commerce minister Chander Parkash Ganga, have also demanded that the probe be sent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), though the central leadership has remained silent on the matter.
The Jammu High Court Bar Association, which led the protest, said the police was carrying out an unfair investigation and the “minority Dogras” were being targeted by the probe.
“Our people including our mothers, sisters and daughters are agitating for a just and genuine demand of CBI probe. In a democracy the voice of the people has to be heard and not stifled,” said Harsh Dev Singh, chairman of the Panthers Party, which backed the ‘bandh’.