Killers of minor Kathua girl being shielded in a planned manner under political patronage, alleges activist Talib Hussain

Jammu: Chairman All Tribal Coordination Committee, Talib Hussain on Thursday claimed that the real culprits in the “rape” and murder of minor Kathua girl were being shielded in a planned manner under the “guise of 15-year-old’s age”.
Hussain, who was detained during protests against the murder earlier this week, said that the persons involved in this “heinous crime” are not being punished because of “political influence”.
Addressing a presser after his release in Jammu, he said that circumstantial evidence on the basis of doctors’ version and people who gave her ceremonial bath suggest that girl was “brutally raped”.
“Her two ribs and a leg were broken. She was given electric shocks. She was clubbed by stones,” said Hussain.
He questioned as to how a 15-year-old boy could commit the crime without an active support from some other person. “…can 15 years old do all this? As police said that the girl was kept in cow shed for 7-8 days. And circumstantial evidence even suggests how it is possible that a 15 year old boy can do all this, without any help,” said Hussain adding that the cowshed is located in the center of the village and it isn’t possible villagers would not have got a whiff of it.
The young Gujjar leader who was arrested by the police on the chahrum of the minor girl, while he was leading a ‘peaceful’ demonstration said: “Police had promised to arrest the accused within 24 hours.”
He said some names of those involved in all this had been revealed. “But until now not even a single accused has been arrested”.
Instead, Hussain said that police beat him up while he was holding a ‘peaceful’ demonstration and tried to lodge him under Public Safety Act.
Stating a Supreme Court ruling, Hussain also questioned the police’s role in the case. “On 10th January, the girl(name withheld) was kidnapped from Govrasa Hiranagar in Kathua and subsequently the following day, the family of the girl goes to police station Hiranagar to lodge a complaint, where instead of lodging the complaint, the Munshi and SHO tells the family that this is a government work and it will take time,” he said.
Hussain also alleged that police never tried to search for the girl, “except for doing a formality when it (police) searched the forest area for a day. “On 12 January FIR was lodged. From 12 to 17, when her body was found, police just for formality searched the forest area,” he said.
Hussain said that MLA Hiranagar tried to influence the SHO of the area regarding the boy’s age. “Most unfortunate [thing] happened when MLA Hiranagar went into police station Hiranagar and told the SHO… do something with the age of the arrested boy,” adding that he is sure that the particular SHO who now has been suspended “will perhaps be rewarded with a prized posting”.
Hussain also said that the Hindu community of the area supported them when the killing took place. “But now water is being denied to people in Rasana village…water is being denied to animals,” he alleged.