People hold placards at a protest against the rape of an eight-year-old girl, in Kathua, near Jammu and a teenager in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh state, in New Delhi, India April 12, 2018. (Source: REUTERS)
Gujjars and Sikh organisations on Friday took out separate marches seeking death penalty to those accused of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua district. Led by Choudhary Nazakat Khatana, a Gujjar and Bakerwal leader, Gujjars raised slogans against the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association over its call for a Jammu bandh on Wednesday seeking transfer of investigations into the case to the CBI. They also demanded Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to sack her two cabinet ministers, Chander Parkash Ganga and Choudhary Lal Singh, for their support to the demand for a CBI inquiry during a rally of the Hindu Ekta Manch in Hiranagar.
“We demand justice for the girl. We demand death penalty to the accused,” Khatana said. Various Sikh organisations, led by Sikh United Front chairman Sudershan Wazir, also took out a candlelight march here. Wazir said that those demanding CBI inquiry for political gains were not doing justice to the soul of the minor. He praised the Crime Branch for fair investigations, saying that not even one policeman would have been arrested otherwise.
Sikhs take out a candle March in Jammu demanding justice for 8-year-old girl gang raped and murdered in Kathua. pic.twitter.com/7eHtwBJYjS
— Muzamil Jaleel (@MuzamilJALEEL) April 13, 2018
Expressing surprise over family members of the accused demanding a CBI inquiry, which is usually demanded only by victims, Wazir said only two of the seven-member SIT were from the Kashmir Valley.