Two more policemen have been detained in the Kathua rape-and-murder case in the past 24 hours for “tampering with the evidence” and “botching up the investigations”.
Hawaldar Tilak Raj, posted at Kathua’s Hiranagar police station, and sub-inspector Anand Dutta, the investigative officer, have been “detained for questioning”, according to the police.
Sources in the Crime Branch said Mr. Raj and Mr. Dutta have allegedly “washed the eight-year-old victim’s blood-soaked clothes” before sending them for a forensic test and “botched up the investigations by failing to document the evidences from the spot of the crime”.
Director General of Police, J&K, S.P. Vaid, while confirming the detention and questioning of the two policemen for “destroying evidence”, said, “Anybody found wanting in his professional job shall be proceeded against departmentally and legally.”
Earlier, two special police officers (SPOs), Deepak Khajuria and Surinder Verma, were also arrested, besides a minor, in the case.
The body of the victim girl from a local nomad family was found from a jungle in Kathua on January 17, after remaining missing for six days.
The preliminary reports suggested the minor was drugged, held captive and raped “with an aim to drive out the family from the area dominated by a particular community”.
In fact, a letter by the Crime Branch to the DGP pointed at “the lapses by the Kathua police and the destruction of evidences”.
However, the Hindu Ekta Manch, spearheaded by Sanji Ram, a retired revenue officer in Kathua, is galvanising support to hand over the case to the CBI, alleging “conspiracy” against the community.
Meanwhile, women activists in J&K on Thursday came together to submit an online petition for “justice to the girl”.
“We are concerned over the excessive politicization and communalization of an incident, which is clearly one of sexual exploitation, brutality and murder. There is brazen manner in which ultra-nationalistic discourse is being used to counter the campaigns for justice and shield the culprits,” said the joint statement.
The statement signed by scores of women in J&K included Anuradha Bhasin, Executive Editor Kashmir Times; Neerja Mattoo, writer and educationist; Shehla Rashid Shora, former vice president JNU Students Union; Nitasha Kaul, an academic, writer and poet and Nyla Ali Khan, writer and visiting professor at the University of Oklahoma.
“The victim belonged to the marginalised and downtrodden nomadic tribe, whose vulnerability and victimization is well recorded. There has been a deliberate attempt by a section from within the government to thwart the process of investigations. We call upon the government to ensure that investigations by the Crime Branch are fast tracked and are fair to be followed by a fast track court trial so that justice can be dispensed,” it said.
