INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The trials in the gruesome Kathua rape and murder case begin today against eight accused who allegedly held an 8-year-old girl in captivity
in a small village temple in Kathua district for a week in January this year during which she was kept sedated and sexually assaulted before
being bludgeoned to death
The accused include a juvenile.The chief judicial magistrate of Kathua will be committing one of the chargesheets, in which seven people
have been named, to the sessions court for trial as mandated under the law.The chief judicial magistrate will, however, hold the trial for
the juvenile as it is the designated court under the juvenile act, according to officials.The Jammu and Kashmir government has appointed two
special public prosecutors, both Sikhs, for the trial in the sensitive case, a move being seen as made to ensure "neutrality" in view of
Hindu-Muslim polarisation over the case.The trial is expected to go smoothly after the Jammu Bar association as well as the Kathua Bar were
rapped by the Supreme Court on April 13 as the court took a strong note of some lawyers obstructing the judicial process in the case.The
Supreme Court initiated a case on its own record saying such impediment "affects the dispensation of justice and would amount to obstruction
of access to justice".A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud was also critical of the Jammu High
Court Bar Association, which had passed a resolution not to attend the courts saying "it is the duty of the bar association as a collective
body and they cannot obstruct the process of law".According to the chargesheets filed by the crime branch, the abduction, rape and killing
of the Bakerwal girl was part of a carefully planned strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the area.It lists the caretaker
of 'Devisthan', a small temple, in a village in Kathua, about 90 km from Jammu, as the main conspirator behind the crime.Sanji Ram was
allegedly joined by special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma, friend Parvesh Kumar alias Mannu, Ram's nephew, a juvenile,
and his son Vishal Jangotra alias "Shamma".The chargesheet also names investigating officers head constable Tilak Raj and Sub-Inspector
Anand Dutta, who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Ram and destroyed crucial evidence
All eight are under arrest.The crime branch will also be handing over the notices issued to the Jammu Bar Council as well as Kathua Bar
Council for appearing before the Supreme Court on April 19.The Bar Association of Kathua has already retracted from its earlier statement of
providing legal assistance free of cost to the accused and said after going through the chargesheet presented by the crime branch (against
the accused in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate on April 9) it is revealed that the allegations against the accused persons are very
grave and as such this case is to be dealt with in a professional way."As such, we have withdrawn our offer to contest the case free of cost
Accused are free to engage any individual advocate and exercise their respective rights of defence in the court
It is for any individual advocate to accept the brief and the bar association will not come in the way of defence nor the bar association
will hamper the prosecution," President of BAK Kirty Bhushan Mahajan had said in a seven page statement yesterday.Members of the same
association had blocked the way of crime branch personnel from submitting the chargesheet before the chief judicial magistrate for six hours
forcing the police to present it at the house of the magistrate.Police have already registered a case against lawyers for obstructing public
servants from performing their duty.The Jammu Bar association, which was left red-faced after the Supreme Court's observation, attempted to
put a brave face saying they had full faith in the top court and said their main demand was for shifting of illegally settled Rohingyas.It
denounced the attempts made by certain quarters for making wrongful attempts to project the association as "pro-rapist" or
"anti-national".The association today fielded a senior woman advocate Surinder Kour who said "we are now satisfied that the case has reached
the Supreme Court and we are satisfied that justice will be delivered to the minor girl."Jammu Bar association is on strike since April 4
and sponsored a general strike on April 11 in Jammu to press for its demands including for according district status to Nowshera sub
division in Rajouri district."We included the demand for CBI probe into the Kathua rape and murder at the request of civil society," Ms Kour
said and accused the state government of forcing them into agitation by "giving no response to our concerns despite repeated memorandums and
