Kathua incident: Students, traders continue to protest for justice

Srinagar: Continuing to press for stern punishment against the culprits, the students and traders from various places staged protest against the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl, Asifa Bano.
The protests against the rape and murder of Kathua minor girl continued from past over one week.
Pro-freedom groups, Civil Society, Lawyers, doctors, Traders, students as well as the teachers staged protest to demand justice to the minor nomad girl.
In continuation of the protests, the students from various educational institutions and the traders staged protest to seek justice for Asifa.
The students of SP College carried out a protest march in Srinagar in solidarity with the Kathua minor girl.
Amid sloganeering in favour of justice, the students marched from their college campus to Ganta Ghar (clock tower) at Lal Chowk and returned to the campus via residency road.
The students demanded stern action against the culprits. “The threat to victim family is unacceptable and government must ensure safety and security to the victim family,” the students demand.
Kashmir University Teachers Association (KUTA) also staged a sit-in in the varsity premises and demanded stern action against the culprits.
Reports of protest in favour of Asifa were also received from southern areas.
Scores of students of Government Higher Secondary School Nadihal in north Kashmiri’s Bandipora district also held a protest march in solidarity with Kathua victim.
The school students assembled outside the school and held a protest while demanding justice for an eight-year-old girl.
The protesting students demanded death penalty to the culprits.
Meanwhile, reports said that police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse girl students of women’s college Baramulla.
Scores of girl students of the college after finishing their classes staged a protest at tehsil road today afternoon.
The protesting students were demanding justice to Kathua victim.
Reports said that the forces also resorted to tear gas shelling to disperse college students in Sopore town of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Reports quoting eye-witnesses said that the students of Degree College Sopore, which opened today after a week, tried to stage a protest outside the college.
However, forces deployed in the area resorted to tear gas shelling to break up the protest, triggering clashes.
Before stepping outside, the students staged a protest inside the college where they raised slogans in favour of justice to Kathua minor girl.
Besides students the traders also staged protest against the rape and murder of a minor nomadic girl.
Scores of traders held a protest at the business hub Lal Chowk and demanded justice for the minor girl.
The protesters amid sloganeering blocked the traffic movement on the road for some time.
They said that the exemplary punishment must be taken against those who are involved in the rape and murder of a minor girl.
However, some educational institutions at a few places continued to remain closed as ‘precautionary measure’. (KNS)