The Jammu and Kashmir government Friday appointed a senior advocate from Punjab as a special public prosecutor in the controversial Kathua rape and murder case. Seven persons and a juvenile have been arrested for the murder of an eight-year-old girl.
A notification issued by the state government said senior advocate Santokh Singh Basra will be assisted by Bhopinder Singh and Harminder Singh. Both are Chief Prosecuting Officers of the Crime Branch in the Jammu and Samba court respectively.
Earlier, the state government had appointed Bhopinder and Harminder as special public prosecutors. The duo had been picked to counter the allegations of communal bias against the police.
Bakra will represent the state in the two pending cases. The first involves the seven accused, which includes a retired revenue official, his son and four policemen. The second case is against a juvenile.
The eight-year-old victim, who hails from the nomadic Bakarwal community, had disappeared from the forests near her house on the outskirts of Rasana village on January 10. A week later, her body was found by police.
Initially, only a juvenile was detained, and the local police claimed the case had been solved. However, after protests by families of the victim and juvenile, the case was handed over to the Crime Branch.
Seven more persons were subsequently arrested, including a former revenue official Sanji Ram, his son Vishal Jangotra, Rasana resident Parvesh Kumar, and four policemen: sub-inspector Anand Dutta, head constable Tilak Raj, SPO Deepak Khajuria and SPO Surinder Kumar
While relatives of the victim expressed satisfaction with the investigation after the arrests, those supporting the accused have demanded a CBI enquiry. A protest rally demanding the enquiry has been held on the Jammu-Kathua national highway for nearly three months now.