BJP leader rallies for CBI inquiry
The minister, who had to resign after outrage, accuses media of spreading misinformation
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Choudhary Lal Singh, who has resigned and drawn controversy for supporting eight men accused of raping and murdering an 8-year-old girl, on Tuesday gave speeches in a dozen places in Kathua district to drum up support for his demand that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe the crime.
“A disinformation campaign was launched by the media. We the Dogras of Jammu were projected as pro-rapists. No one bothered to hear the grievance of the people. They are demanding a CBI probe and the accused demanded a narco test. Is it a crime?” said Singh in Kootah Morh in Kathua district, where the girl was murdered.
Singh and BJP leader Chander Prakash Ganga had to resign as ministers of the Mehbooba Mufti government on Friday after it emerged that they had in March attended a rally organised by Hindu Ekta Manch, a radical organisation which says accused in the Kathua crime are innocent.
Singh said he attended the rally to defuse the situation in Kathua and he didn’t support the accused. “The media created a false perception of the entire incident. We want justice for the girl. She was our daughter and therefore a CBI probe becomes indispensable,” he told journalists.
Singh’s motorcade and speeches in towns along the Jammu-Pathankot drew crowds as he criticised chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and said the state police’s investigation in the Kathua murder couldn’t be trusted. “If she has a conscience she should have resigned. She still has the time to save her image,” he said. The girl from the Bakarwal tribe, a nomadic community of Muslim cattle grazers, was abducted while grazing her family’s horses near her home in January.
The police said in its charge sheet she was held captive in a temple, sedated and raped repeatedly for a week before being bludgeoned to death because the main accused wanted to scare the Bakarwals and make them move out of the village. All the eight accused pleaded not guilty on Monday in Kathua.
‘CENTRE READY FOR CBI PROBE’
The Union minister of state Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said the Centre has no problem in handing over the Kathua rape and murder case to CBI, provided PDP-BJP government in the state takes the call.
Fielding media queries in Jammu on the sidelines of a programme at Ayurvedic hospital, he said,“We have no problem and no objection in handing over the case to CBI. If the state government gives reference to the CBI today, we will hand over the case to CBI today itself,” Singh said.
He also said the other option was doing it via courts. “As per my knowledge, a petition is also pending in the court,” said Singh.
However, he refused to make any comment on the resignation of two BJP ministers Lal Singh and Chander Parkash Ganga.
There has been a clamour among people of Kathua district to hand over the case to CBI for a fair probe.
The two ministers had to resign following an outrage over their presence at Hindu Ekta Manch rally in March which allegedly supported the accused in rape and murder case.