Protest against murder, rape of minor girl in Kathua, Jammu
Srinagar, January 18 ,2017: People held a protest
against the rape and murder of an 8-year-old young girl in Kathua district of Jammu region. The girl Asifa Bano, who had gone missing a week ago, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Hiranagar tehsil of Hindu-dominated district.
The family and the relatives of the girl staged a protest, demanding swift investigation into the case and arrest of the culprits. “A minor girl missing for the past one week was found dead in Rasana village of Hiranagar tehsil of the district,” said a police official. “We have shifted the body to the District Hospital Kathua for postmortem,” he added. Reports said that there were serious injury marks on the face of the girl.
Mohammad Yousuf, girl’s father, told News 18 that her modesty was outraged. She bore torture marks on her face and some other body parts, he said. “She was bitten on her lips. There were marks of violence on her thigh and face,” he cried, as dozens of mourners arrived at his home for condolence.
His wife Naseema is inconsolable. Fighting back tears she said her daughter disappeared on January 10, after she had left the house in Rasana village to take the horses and mules to the ditch at around 12 o’clock just a km downhill. She was also looking for a mule.
“When she did not arrive for an hour, I called her father to look for her. We kept searching until evening but could not find her. We started calling relatives but there was no trace of her,” she said.
“We kept searching for her for last seven dQays and went to forests and villages around but she could not be found anywhere. We also approached the police but they took the issue very lightly,” Javeed Khan, maternal uncle of the girl told News 18.
He said on January 17, a woman informed Yousuf that girl’s body was lying some distance away from his home. “Police later arrived on the spot and her body was taken for a post-mortem. We buried her last night. People stopped traffic on the main Jammu-Pathankot highway seeking a probe in the incident.”
Meanwhile, the opposition staged a walkout from the so-called Kashmir Assembly, today, to protest against the murder of the eight-year-old girl of Bakerwal community in Kathua district.