Writing on the Kathua tragedy needs courage and patience for one is overwhelmed by the details of the gruesome crime. This tragedy didn’t only lay bare that monsters among us but also how the most responsible sections of our polity-politicians and lawyers can brazenly defend the accused. To me at least, this all shattered my faith in our basic human values. How painful, atrocious and shameful!
I don’t want to mince words: the eight -year-old girl became the victim –of both religious hate and human bestiality. She would have never thought that people around her can do a thing she probably didn’t even understand. She was too innocent to understand the politics of hate and divisiveness.
I have no reasons not to believe that this barbarity was committed because tormentors wanted to “teach a lesson” to others whose ideological and religious beliefs are not like those of theirs! It is a hate crime.
The girl’s innocent face will keep haunting us all who don’t differentiate humans on the basis of religion or region. The kid who loved her horses and meadows questions us: why didn’t we save her? I am sure law of the land will punish the perpetrators. But here something else is equally gruesome. The events that followed the human tragedy are saddening. Had not the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti & a section of Kashmir based media stood firm in their efforts to see there is a thorough investigation into the case; this barbaric crime would have been buried. Gratifying— there are people and institutions that didn’t allow subversion, by taking firm stand, despite heavy odds.
The police investigations have revealed that it was not a case of sexual violence, but a well thought-out ploy against a particular social-religious community. It seems evidently that the motive was to terrorize, and drive out the nomadic Muslim community from the area.
After following the entire pattern of the incident it comes across that the issue has some dimensions: two sacked ministers of the BJP, pre-2014 elections, had whipped up hatred against this tribal community for votes. Posters were pasted in one of the politicians’ constituency during 2014 elections, calling for removal of Gujjars from district Samba.
The day he won, his victory rally attacked Gujjarbasti at Vijaypur. This incident is recorded.
One politician succeeded in allotting land of the Gujjar people for construction of the AIIMS, which threatened to uproot at least 300 families of the tribal community while a more feasible government land, free of settlement, was available just across the highway. Another politician has a history of land conflict with the Gujjars and Bakerwals in Kathua district.
Gujjars have been using government land as winter pastures for their cattle. During Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s second term as Chief Minister, these government lands were registered against their names but without granting them the ownership rights.
But with the passage of time, some of these lands fell between high way and railway track and became prime spots. One of the politicians had been grabbing these patches since many years, but was effectively resisted by tribal community who needed these patches for grazing purposes. So this land is livelihood for them.
This was a new low when some people that include top politicians, lawyers and “civil society” members in Jammu made it a rallying point to defend the accused instead of fighting for justice to the child. Perhaps the Congress was behind the flare up, scoring brownies points against the BJP by this soft Hindutva politics.
These shameless people tried to communalise the tragedy under the guise of demanding CBI probe into the incident. Shocking, it was to see lawyers in Kathua physically preventing crime branch officials from filing the charge sheet against the accused.
The Jammu Bar Association supported rapists and murderers and its president gave explicit threats to those asking for punishment to the accused. Following massive public outrage, though the Jammu Bar has gone for rapprochement, but that won’t hide its nauseating intent and action. Despite the dampening fact the rapists and murders had supporters in the form of some lawyers and politicians, the brutal rape and murder of the Kathua girl did get people from across the political divide together in expressing their outrage demanding punishment to the perpetrators.
Despite concerted efforts by the communal elements, people in Jammu and Kashmir regions, irrespective of religions and political positions, now stand together for the innocent girl. The BJP, which was seen providing silent support to the pro-rape lobby in Jammu, has to answer many questions; the bigger question being as to why its senior party functionaries sided with perpetrators of the crime. Congress party backed the strike call given by the Jammu Bar Association in favour of the criminals. They can’t play holier than thou.
The resignation of the two “pro-rape” ministers and the government’s move to set-up special fast-track court that will complete trail in 90 days are reassuring that our little angel will get justice. More importantly, the majority in Jammu have rejected the designs of these polarising elements and have chosen sanity and stand for the ravaged innocent child. This gives a hard blow to communal and divisive politics.
In the meantime, the tragic incident yet again brings forth the need that government and the society must ensure that rights of indigenous ethnic groups in our state are secured legally. They are citizens of the state and deserve honourable existence. They are not and should not be seen as a burden. And they should not be made cannon fodder for communal politics! That would be a tribute to the innocent girl. May her soul rest in peace!
(The author hails from Tral in South Kashmir, and is presently working as Media Analyst in the Chief Minister’s Office in J&K)