Legal fraternity across Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) did not perform judicial work on Saturday to condemn the rape and murder of an 8-old girl in Kathua and also express solidarity with the female lawyer fighting for justice to the victim’s family.
In response to a call given by the PaK Bar Council, lawyers staged rallies and demonstrations in all parts of PaK, during which they chanted slogans against the Indian government, army and what they termed as “communal elements trying to shield the perpetrators of the gruesome act in January this year.”
Participants also paid tributes to Deepika Singh Rajawat for fighting the case of rape victim’s family and condemned the elements threatening and harassing her.
Rajawat, an advocate in Jammu, took up the case of the 8-year-old girl who was gang raped and later murdered. Rajawat is the chairperson and founder of Voice for Rights, an NGO which works among underprivileged women and children.
The PaK lawyers also supported demand by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq that all the rape cases reported in Kashmir during past three decades including the mass rape of Kunan-Poshpora should be reopened and reinvestigated to bring their perpetrators to justice.
Meanwhile, the PaK Supreme Court Bar Association also announced honorary membership for Deepika in acknowledgement of her courageous decision to get justice for the victim family in an area where even the government functionaries and hooligans of ruling coalition partner BJP were openly supporting the perpetrators of ghastly act.
“DeepikaRajawat, advocate Jammu High Court, has been awarded honorary membership in acknowledgment of her courageously agitating and representing the rape and brutal murder of 8-year old baby in Kathua, despite threats and intimidations to her life and modesty from communal elements in Indian held Jammu and Kashmir,” read the certificate, issued with the seal and signatures of Mian Sultan Mahmood, secretary general PaK Bar Supreme Court Bar Association, in Mirpur on Saturday.