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SRINAGAR: The Congress today termed the protests over the arrest of a former bureaucrat and a special police officer in Kathua rape and murder as “politically motivated” with J&K police filing an FIR against the lawyers of a bar association who had objected to the filing of charge-sheet into the case yesterday.
“It is a politically motivated move and a conspiracy to polarise the state. The shameless protests by lawyers in Jammu have brought a bad name to the profession. Hindering the process of justice amounts to endorsement of crimes,” J&K Congress chief GA Mir said.
After mounting public pressure, the J&K police today filed an FIR against the lawyers, "An FIR has been registered against Kathua bar association lawyers under sections 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty, 147 (rioting), 341 (wrongful restraint) of RPC,” said SSP Kathua Suleiman Choudhary.
A group of lawyers had yesterday staged protests outside a Kathua court when the sleuths of the crime branch of J&K Police reached there along with lawyers to file their charge-sheet against the accused, which include a former bureaucrat and two special police officers.
The lawyers, reportedly backed by the Hindu right-wing groups, as well as the families of the accused are demanding a CBI probe into the case, a demand rejected by the state government which constituted a special investigations team to probe the case.
“When the lawyers representing people in the court indulge in such shameless acts, what would one expect from them. This is obnoxious, the height of shamelessness and unfortunate act on the part of the lawyers,” said Mir.
Despite protests, the crime branch yesterday filed the charge-sheet into the case even as two females, reportedly members of families of the accused including wife of Ram, sitting on a fast unto death since March 31, demanding a CBI probe.
During investigations, the crime branch unearthed a horrifying story of communal hatred and divisiveness, allegedly conspired by Sanji Ram, the former bureaucrat, with the help of a policeman, in order to terrorize a tiny group of Muslim nomads living in the Hindu majority Rasana village.
The latest post-mortem report and other tests including DNA profiling, of the victim, Asifa, 8, has, according to the crime branch sources, established that the victim was held captive at a temple where Ram performed duties of a priest.
“The hair strands recovered from the temple match with those of Asifa which has proven beyond doubt that she was held captive there,” sources said. The reports have also shown that the victim was drugged so that she didn’t make any noise and raped on at least two occasions.
Meanwhile, a conglomerate of Valley-based businesses, Kashmir Economic Alliance chairman, Haji Muhammad Yasin Khan today warned of protests in the Valley if the state government doesn’t file FIR against the lawyers who tried to stop the prosecution team from entering the court premises.
“We have given an ultimatum to the government to book the erring lawyers and other similar forces or face counter protests in Kashmir region,” Khan said.
